Vard Orders One More Red Rock Crane Package for North Star’s SOV Fleet

Vard has placed a new order for a crane package with Red Rock, after securing a new shipbuilding contract with North Star Renewables for its fourth service operations vessel (SOV) that will serve the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the UK.

The fourth SOV, and the third of a VARD 4 12 SOV design to be built for North Star at at Vard’s Vung Tau shipyard in Vietnam, will be equipped with a 2T 3D Motion Compensated crane, a 2T Boatlanding crane, and a 1T Shipboard crane.

Red Rock will deliver the cranes for the fourth SOV to Vard Vung Tau in the third quarter of 2023, while Vard plans to deliver the vessel to North Star in the fourth quarter of 2024. 

For the first three vessels, Red Rock will supply two 2T 3D Motion Compensated cranes, a 5T 3D Motion Compensated crane, three 2T Boatlanding cranes, and three 1T Shipboard crane, starting in 2022.

The new SOV will be 78 metres in length with a beam of 19 metres and will be able to accommodate 60 persons in single cabins.

The hybrid vessel will be equipped with a diesel-electric propulsion system, highly efficient main propellers, and tunnel thrusters with permanent magnet electric motors in combination with SeaQ solutions supplied by Vard Electro in Norway.

The SOV will feature a fully integrated SeaQ Energy Storage System Solution in combination with SeaQ Integrated Automation System (IAS), SeaQ Power Management system (PMS), SeaQ Energy Management System (EMS), and SeaQ Green Pilot (energy monitoring system) for improved operational performance and reduced environmental footprint. The set-up makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, in addition to enhance responsiveness and safety, Vard said.