© Supplied by Havfram Acquisitions have dominated the shipping industry of late, namely Havfram of Norway’s takeover by Belgian group DEME; and that of Sweden-rooted Northern Offshore Group by Japanese shipping giant NYK.
But before we get to the main course, we’re starting with a taster – completion of a pocket service vessel built for the UK-headquartered, but fundamentally Turkish-owned, Tor Group and developed by Macduff Ship Design, which, locally in Scotland, is famous as a designer of excellent fishing vessels.
Tor Boreas is a cutting-edge, powerful, multi-purpose service vessel, but it is designed to be particularly able to serve offshore wind sector needs.
The diesel-electric vessel is designed to comply with the not more than 24m registered length rules to allow it to operate under UK MCA Workboat Code Edition III regulations, but has also been built to Bureau Veritas regulations and approval for international operation.
The deck gear pack includes a Melcal 13-tonne offshore crane, a Melcal hydraulic A-frame with a five-tonne lifting capacity, a 25-tonne electrically driven aft towing winch, a 500mm stern roller, and an aft deck with a clear deck area of more than 230 square feet.
The open deck is capable of safely loading up to 60 tonnes of deck cargo or 3 x 20ft containers, and is arranged with modular installation for dive and survey support units.
Remarkably for such a compact boat, Tor Boreas is also equipped with a 1500mm x 1500mm moon pool and is fitted with a VEEM stabiliser system.
This should significantly reduce at sea motion, so enabling service operations to be conducted in poorer sea states than would normally be possible; and greater crew comfort.
© Supplied by Macduff Ship DesignTakeovers
First up, DEME acquired Havfram in a deal worth about €900 million (£770,787,000).
Havfram is primarily owned by US investor Sandbrook Capital and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) of Canada.
A key attraction to DEME is that the Oslo-headquartered Norwegian company has two next-generation wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs) on order at CIMC Raffles in China and due for completion late year into next.
They were ordered in December 2022 and March 2023 and are already booked for work from H2 this year.
The transaction value includes the acquisition from Sandbrook Capital and PSP Investments, along with the remaining capital expenditure required to complete the two WTIVs.
At an implied pricing of €450m per vessel, the transaction will be done at current newbuilding prices for 4th gen WTIV vessels. At the time, they were ordered, the price tag was €350m apiece.
For DEME, the deal meets several purposes, including fleet renewal, with less construction risk and without having to wait three-plus years for an (alternative) organic newbuild strategy.
Havfram’s substantial backlog also enables a de-risked play, as the current book will cover the coming years of activity.
© Supplied by Thistle Wind PartnerTurning to crew transfer vessel owner and operator Northern Offshore Group (NOG) and Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line); the two companies have had an operational and technical collaboration since 2019.
Now that NYK has taken ownership, NOG will be able to leverage the Japanese group’s global network, enabling further technical development and growth.
For its part, NYK says it will gain important operational experience in preparation for the anticipated future expansion of offshore wind in waters closer to Japan.
David Kristensson, NOG’s CEO said: “We are excited to expand our collaboration with NYK. We have worked together for a long time and have the same values and vision for the future, which is very important to us.
“NYK is a key player in the global maritime industry, and together we can significantly increase our global presence and further improve our services for our customers.”
For now, at least, NOG will continue to operate as an independent entity, retaining its Nordic ‘Donsö-spirit’.
Coming right up to date, NOG has just bought a service operation vessel (SOV) from fellow Norwegian corporate, Edda Wind.
An SOV is an operations and maintenance support vessel with extensive accommodation designed to provide an in-farm floating command centre and base.
NOG owns more than 60 crew transfer vessels (CTVs) and has previously managed SOVs, but this is its first owned SOV.
Finally, subsidiary Northern Offshore Services has taken delivery of the world’s first 100% biomethanol-powered CTV.
M/V Transporter is a 25m, high-speed catamaran purpose-designed to shuttle up to 24 offshore wind industry personnel, passengers and light cargos.
The initiative is in collaboration with Vestas, which is to utilise Transporter to explore how a biomethanol-powered vessel can reduce carbon emissions from offshore service operations.
