MARITIME: Cochin Shipyard Awarded Contract for Building a Service Operations Vessel for North Star
By Our Correspondent
The Cochin Shipyard in India has been contracted by the UK-based infrastructure support company, North Star, for the construction of a newbuild hybrid-electric Service Operations Vessel (SOV).
According to FleetMon, “North Star secured a contract with one of the largest energy companies in Europe and Germany, EnBW, to provide a newbuild SOV for a decade-long charter. North Star contracted the Cochin Shipyard for the construction of the vessel.
“The SOV, when completed, is intended to serve the “He Dreiht” wind farm off the coast of Germany starting in late 2025. This particular wind farm is being highlighted as one of Europe’s largest energy transition projects, intended to supply green energy to 1.1 million homes. The SOV will be crucial in keeping the windfarm consistently in operating conditioMARITIME:
“The SOV will provide accommodations for 34 wind technicians, acting as a mobile logistics hub and warehouse for the wind farm. The new vessel will be of the VARD 407 design and will be specifically tailored to meet the requirements set forth by EnBW. It will be equipped with Voith Schneider eVSP propulsion and will be prepared for the use of methanol as a fuel for decarbonization purposes.
“This contract marks the first collaboration between the Cochin shipyard and North Star. The Cochin Shipyard was awarded the contract based on its track record of constructing hybrid ships and delivering them timely to other European operators.
“This particular vessel will be the seventh newbuild SOV for North Star since it entered the renewables market in 2021. North Star is looking to add 40 new SOVs to its fleet by the end of 2040. To this end, they have newbuild SOVs being built in India, Vietnam, Romania, and Norway.”
