Vietnam shipyard to build vessel for British offshore wind services provider

The Vard Vung Tau shipyard in southern Vietnam will build a new commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) for UK-based offshore wind services provider Purus Wind.

Norwegian shipbuilder Vard has secured an order from Purus Wind for two CSOVs, one of which will be built in the beach town of Vung Tau, about two hours southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.

The hull for the first vessel will be built by a Vard yard in Romania for outfitting, commissioning, and delivery made from one of its yards in Norway, offshorewind.biz, a global magazine on offshore energy and technology, reported Friday.

Each CSOV ordered by Purus Wind will be outfitted with two azimuth thrusters for propulsion and two retractable azimuth thrusters and a tunnel thruster for maneuvering, the magazine said.

The vessels, of the VARD 4 19 design developed by Vard Design in Alesund, Norway, will be approximately 87 meters long with a capacity of 120 persons. Delivery will be made in the second quarters of 2025 and 2026, respectively.

The value of the two-vessel contract has not been publicized.

In the offshore wind power sector, a service operation vessel (SOV) functions as a mother ship for wind turbine technicians performing maintenance and service work at offshore wind farms, while a CSOV is designed to support commissioning works during the construction of offshore wind farms. An SOV can serve as a hotel, warehouse, workshop or temporary home.

This June, the Vard Vung Tau shipyard held a steel cutting ceremony to start work on a new SOV for Vard. This will be the fourth SOV to be delivered by Vard to leading British infrastructure support company North Star for operation on the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the UK’s North Sea.