December 10 - The Sietas Group says it will become the first German shipyard to develop and build a jack-up vessel to be used for offshore wind farm installations.
The order, signed yesterday in Hamburg, comes from Dutch-based marine contractor Van Oord, which works on dredging, offshore and marine engineering projects worldwide, and includes an option for a second ship of the same type.
No details of the purchase price were released.
The Sietas jack-up vessel will offer a loading capacity of up to 6,500 tdw and can work safely in depths of up to 45m. The ship, 139m long and 38m wide, will have a 5.7m draught and will be capable of travelling at a speed of 12 knots.
It will be equipped with an offshore crane with an outreach of 30m, capable of lifting 900 tonnes and of operating at a height of up to approximately 120m above water level.
Sietas said the time from development to delivery to Van Oord in September 2012 would be just 21 months. The construction phase was scheduled to last one year, the company said.
"We are delighted to have won this order, as it provides us with an entry point into the growth market that is the offshore wind industry. Naturally, it also gives us great pride to have beaten off tough competition from the Netherlands, China and the United Arab Emirates," said Rüdiger Fuchs, CEO of the Sietas Group.
Sietas said its bid, including the ship and crane, plus development and construction, represented an attractive turnkey solution from a single source.
The new-build order was an important step on the path to putting the Sietas shipyard back onto a firm business footing, the company said.
