UK shipowner North Star has ordered another service operation vessel (SOV) after making a breakthrough into the European offshore wind market.
The Scotland-based group has picked Cochin Shipyard in India to build its seventh hybrid-electric ship to service a contract with utility giant EnBW at the He Dreiht farm off Germany.
The charter term will be 10 years initially.
Finance chief Fraser Dobbie said North Star had made a comprehensive assessment of pre-qualified shipyards.
“This is the first time we have worked with Cochin and we were particularly impressed by their skills, expertise and vast experience in constructing hybrid ships for on-schedule delivery to other European vessel operators,” he added.
The company already has SOVs being built in Vietnam, Romania and Norway for UK contracts, but this is its first charter deal overseas.
North Star has a stated ambition to build 40 hybrid commissioning/service operation vessels by 2040.
The latest newbuilding is a Vard 407 design tailored to meet EnBW’s specific requirements.
No price has been revealed for the ship, which is being prepared to run on methanol.
The yard should deliver it by the end of 2025.
The walk-to-work ship will house 34 technicians maintaining 64 wind turbines 90 km (56 miles) northwest of the island of Borkum.
Hamburg base
North Star European renewables lead Caspar Blum said: “Penetrating the European offshore wind sector so promptly after establishing our presence in Hamburg last summer is testament to our service-led approach and passion to deliver SOVs which easily integrate into wind farm operations and O&M [operation and maintenance] strategies.”
North Star is also an owner of emergency response and rescue vessels and entered the wind market in 2021.
Two SOVs built by Vard are now in operation off the UK.
Two more are coming this month and in February 2025.
