NYK Line and Sweden's Northern Offshore Services (NOS) have strengthened their offshore wind power cooperation through a new bareboat charter deal.
The Japanese shipping giant will lease its first ever crew transfer vessel (CTV) — the 430-gt Energizer (built 2021) — to the subsidiary of Northern Offshore Group (NOG) over 10 years.
NYK said the ship will service offshore farms, mainly in Europe.
NYK is also sending its engineers to work with NOS on operations and ship management in Europe, which it views as a leading region in the offshore wind power business.
This will also help it prepare to develop its own CTV operations in Japan.
First fruits of cooperation agreement
Tokyo-listed NYK already had a cooperation deal in place with NOS signed in 2019, to explore this sector in Japan. The two companies had been working on bringing a newbuilding into the market.
The CTV charter is a partial development of this agreement.
It is not clear where the vessel is being built or when it will be delivered, but the ship design has been drawn up by NOS.
The vessel will come equipped with a large-capacity battery that can be recharged from a power-generation facility, and can be switched to hybrid mode to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
At the end of April, NYK formed a new joint venture with compatriot tug company Akita Eisen to develop the domestic CTV business.
The new outfit will operate mainly in the waters off Akita Prefecture.
