SAL Heavy Lift has signed an option for a fifth Orca-class newbuild vessel with Wuhu Shipyard in China.
The contract was signed at the Marintec Exhibition in Shanghai and brings the total number of ships on order up to five. The fifth Orca vessel will be named Vera and is slated for delivery in mid-2025.
Progress for the original four vessels on order, meanwhile, is progressing well. The first steel cutting ceremony taking place on February 22, as HLPFI reported here. Earlier this month, on December 8, a keel-laying ceremony took place for the second vessel in the series, Frida, at Wuhu Shipyard.
SAL Heavy Lift placed the order for up to six 14,600 dwt multipurpose heavy lift vessels with China’s Wuhu Shipyard – four newbuildings plus two options – on July 15, 2022. The highly specialised vessels will each feature two 800-tonne lifting capacity cranes. Each ship will measure 149.9 m long.
