Vessels News

Norwegian shipbuilder Vard, part of Fincantieri, has opened a new design and engineering office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and plans to grow its workforce there to more than 40 engineers in the coming years.The new Vard Design and Engineering Vietnam center brings together engineers working across structural design, piping and machinery, HVAC, naval architecture, hydrostatics, stability and marine electrical disciplines.The office expands Vard's ship design and engineering capacity in Vietnam and will work as part of the company's international design network…

Reach Subsea has exercised a one-year option to extend the charter for Deep Cygnus subsea vessel from Havila Subsea & Renewables, keeping the vessel in its fleet through March 2028.The original charter, announced in July 2022, covered a four-year period with an option for an additional year. Deep Cygnus has been part of Reach Subsea's fleet since 2023.The vessel is equipped for inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR), survey and light construction work across the offshore energy and renewables sectors.Deep Cygnus is a subsea construction…

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, state media reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday.Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly under which the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met, with the US replying to this proposal last week via Qatari intermediaries."The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm…

DOF Group has received a letter of intent for a contract valued at between $50 million and $100 million that would secure work for one of its I-class vessels in the first half of 2028.The scope includes DOF's in-house project management and engineering, as well as procurement and logistics support services.The company expects the full contract award to be confirmed by mid-November 2026.DOF Group did reveal any additional details regarding the client, vessel or project involved.

Dutch offshore vessel owner Acta Marine has christened its commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) Acta Hercules in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, as the company moves closer to completing its four-vessel newbuild program.Acta Hercules was delivered earlier this year as the second vessel in the series and is already deployed under a long-term charter supporting offshore wind operations for Vestas.The vessel is equipped with methanol dual-fuel engines and an advanced battery energy storage system…

BW Offshore's blue ammonia floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) concept, jointly developed with McDermott, has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from DNV, advancing the proposed offshore low-carbon ammonia production solution towards further design development.The AiP provides an independent, risk-based assessment of the concept at an early stage and establishes a basis for further design development, certification and classification.Unveiled in February, the…

Golden Energy Offshore Services (GEOS) has secured two new charter contracts for its large platform supply vessel (PSV) Energy Swan with a combined estimated firm value of about $8.7 million.The first contract has a firm duration of about one month, with additional options, and is scheduled to start in October 2026.The second will deploy Energy Swan on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for an estimated firm period of 290 days, with options for about another 500 days. The charter is expected to start in January 2027.If all options under the two new contracts are exercised…

Siemens Energy has contracted EST-Floattech to supply a battery system of more than 1 MWh for Marco Polo Marine's new CSOV Plus, a vessel designed to work in both offshore wind and oil and gas operations.The Octopus High Energy battery system will support hybrid and dynamic positioning operations aboard the vessel, which is being built by Marco Polo Marine at its shipyard in Batam, Indonesia. Siemens Energy is the system integrator for the hybrid power plant.During dynamic positioning…

DEME has installed the 68th and final monopile at Vattenfall's 980 MW Nordlicht I offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, completing the project's monopile installation campaign.The milestone follows installation of the first monopile in July and the first transition piece in August. DEME carried out the monopile campaign using its offshore installation vessel Orion.Nordlicht I is located about 85 kilometers north of the German island of Borkum and is set to become Germany's…

Integrated Wind Solutions (IWS) subsidiary IWS Fleet has ordered four Skywalker-class commissioning service operation vessels (CSOVs) for a combined firm yard price of around $301 million (€260 million), expanding its owned fleet from six to 10 CSOVs.The four vessels, priced at around $75 million (€65 million) each, will be built by Nantong Rainbow Offshore & Engineering Equipment and delivered in 2029 and 2030 under fixed-price turnkey contracts.IWS Fleet has also secured options for another four vessels at the same firm prices…

Windward Offshore celebrated the official naming of its Commissioning Service Operation Vessel (CSOV), Windward Munich, in Hamburg on September 22, bringing together customers, partners and representatives from the Offshore Wind and Maritime Industries at the dawn of WindEnergy Hamburg.The ‘Windward Munich’ is the third vessel in the Windward offshore fleet. Built by VARD Vung Tau in Vietnam, she is the first of two vessels in the fleet to feature a helicopter landing deck. She follows the ‘Windward Athens,’ delivered in September 2025, and the ‘Windward Paris,’ delivered in January 2026.

Solstad Maritime has been awarded contracts for two anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS) for drilling support work in the Asia-Pacific region.The combined firm value estimated at the upper end of a $10 million and $30 million range, according to the Norwegian vessel owner.The contracts for the Normand Scorpion and Normand Saracen have a combined firm duration of 475 days and are expected to start in the second and third quarters of 2027.The agreements also include a combined 400 days of options beyond the firm periods.Both vessels measure 87.4 meters in length with a 21-meter beam.

Dajin Heavy Industry has selected Ulstein's ULSTEIN HX122 design for an offshore installation vessel capable of installing future 4XL monopiles, expanding the offshore wind foundation supplier's activities into offshore installation.The vessel, designed by Ulstein Design & Solutions in the Netherlands, is intended to install monopiles, jacket foundations and offshore substations. It will also be capable of supporting oil and gas construction and decommissioning work.The project will expand Dajin's capabilities beyond manufacturing…

Mermaid Maritime has established a joint venture with Nigerian oilfield services company Marine Platforms Limited to pursue subsea work for TotalEnergies Nigeria and other oil and gas operators in the country.The new company, Mermaid Subsea Services Limited, will be 49% owned by Mermaid Subsea Oil and Gas Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mermaid Maritime, while Marine Platforms will hold 51%.The venture is intended to allow direct operational engagement with TotalEnergies Nigeria and other oil and gas companies while meeting Nigerian local content…

More QatarEnergy-linked liquefied natural gas vessels, laden and in ballast, have transited the Strait of Hormuz in the last week despite the US-Iran conflict.In August, Kpler data showed no visible transits by Qatar-linked LNG vessels or vessels carrying cargoes from the Ras Laffan gas terminal, amid fears of attack by Iran, which has tried to throttle traffic through the Strait.Some may have got through undetected if they kept their transponders off, but this month, visible…

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LD Armateurs) has taken delivery of the DP2 multipurpose support vessel TVO Mariner for its LD TravOcean subsidiary, expanding its capacity for subsea cable installation, repair and protection work.The vessel, delivered to the group in mid-September, will support telecommunications cable installation and repairs, trenching and deepwater ROV operations, as well as offshore wind projects.“The TVO Mariner gives us full ownership on project execution for submarine cable installation and repairs, trenching services and deep water ROV operations.

Ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman for Middle Eastern oil from inside the Strait of Hormuz have reached their limits after Saudi Arabia diverted exports from the Red Sea, adding to shipments from other producers, trade sources and analysts said.The increasing amount of Saudi exports this month requires more supertankers to shuttle crude through Hormuz to conduct cargo transfers, they said. That has reduced ship availability, raising shipping costs and increasing the time…

Crude oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz reached 33.7 million barrels so far in the week starting September 20, preliminary ship-tracking data from Kpler showed on Friday, putting exports roughly on track with the previous week's levels.The traffic comprised 19 tankers, of which 17 are very large crude carriers (VLCCs) that can carry 2 million barrels of oil, the data showed. Most of the tankers are laden with crude from Saudi Arabia, followed by Iraq.For the full previous week…

Van Oord has named its two next-generation flexible fallpipe vessels Vindnes and Vestnes, with the 35,000-tonne-capacity ships scheduled for delivery in 2028 and 2029.The purpose-built vessels, currently under construction at Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore in China, will expand Van Oord's subsea rock installation capacity for offshore wind, interconnector and other energy infrastructure projects.Unlike converted vessels, Vindnes and Vestnes have been designed specifically for subsea rock installation…

Fincantieri's Norwegian subsidiary Vard has signed a contract, worth between $76 million and $86 million, to build a commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) for Dong Fang Offshore, marking the fifth vessel ordered by the Taiwan-based marine contractor from the shipbuilder.The vessel will be based on VARD 4 39 design and adapted for subsea operations, offshore wind installation and maintenance, as well as cable laying and repair work.Measuring about 102.5 meters long and 19.5 meters wide…

Fugro has secured a marine asset integrity contract in Australia covering the replacement of critical subsea infrastructure and survey and inspection work, with offshore operations expected to start towards the end of 2027.The contract, awarded by an undisclosed client, combines subsea intervention with survey and inspection services using Fugro's remote operations capabilities.Fugro will provide engineering, project management and offshore execution for the campaign, aimed at…

Stillstrom by Maersk has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Semco Maritime to manufacture and deliver a key part of its offshore vessel charging system, moving the technology into manufacturing following completion of its design phase.Semco Maritime will manufacture the local equipment room, or local equipment room (LER), which controls power, communications and safety functions across Stillstrom's offshore charging infrastructure.The containerized unit houses the transformer and medium-voltage switchgear used to transfer offshore-generated electricity from a wind farm to a vessel…

ABL has been appointed by Allseas as marine warranty surveyor for the single-lift removal of the Statfjord A topside in the North Sea, an operation set to use an upgraded 60,000-tonne lifting system aboard Pioneering Spirit.Allseas is carrying out the engineering, preparation, removal and disposal of the Statfjord A platform, a concrete gravity-base production facility on the Equinor-operated Statfjord field.The entire topside will be removed in a single lift by Pioneering Spirit…