Norway’s GC Rieber Shipping has booked two service operation vessels (SOVs) at Cemre Shipyard in Türkiye with the first delivery expected in Q1 of 2025.
The Oslo-listed shipowner and project house established a stand-alone company for the vessels called WindKeeper with a total investment of about €110m ($109.6m).
The WindKeeper SOVs are based on small water area twin hull (SWATH) methodology and design, which according to GC Rieber, offers the offshore wind sector improved operability, ultra-low fuel consumption, and the option of fully electric operations in the field.
57 meters long vessel will be built according to the DNV classification rules and regulations including Walk to Work and DPS(2) notations and sail under the Norwegian Flag.
The approach of this hybrid diesel-electric system increases safety, cuts operational costs, improves lifecycle economics, and decreases the environmental footprint.
WindKeeper has been developed to deliver two key value-adding attributes to clients and the offshore wind market;
* A substantially lower environmental footprint.
* Sea and station-keeping performance widening the operational window in a safe and efficient manner
“Our goal is to build innovative, environmentally friendly vessels for valuable players in the offshore industry together with our sustainable production and finance models. We are happy and proud to have entered into a contract for two challenging projects for Windkeeper AS, wholly owned by GC Rieber Shipping. Thank you very much to the professional team of Cemre Shipyard and GC Rieber Shipping for their great contribution and hard work to make this happen. We are looking forward to the positive construction processes of these high-quality SWATH SOV vessels.” says Cemre Shipyard CFO Ömer Özeroğlu.
“We’re really looking forward to working with Cemre Shipyard on building a fleet of WindKeepers. Cemre has a successful track record on building SWATH for offshore wind and has through the process proven themselves as a valuable partner.” said GC Rieber Shipping CCO, Christoffer Knudsen in a comment.
The project and vessels are fully financed through a combination of equity and debt financing. Sparebanken Vest and Eksfin have provided long-term loans of a minimum €51m.
The order includes options for further two vessels.