Vroon, a Dutch shipping company, said that its walk-to-work vessel VOS Start has begun work for developer Parkwind on the 219MW Northwester 2 offshore wind farm (OWF) off the coast of Belgium.
Located near the Belgian Coast, Northwester 2 is the seventh project to be constructed in the Belgian North Sea and Parkwind’s fourth project. The Northwester 2 Farm will comprise 23 Vestas turbines, with a total capacity of 219 MW.
The 80m long VOS Start, purpose-built to support offshore operations in the renewables industry, is capable of accommodating up to 60 client personnel. It most recently completed a two-year charter for MHI Vestas.
All operations are being conducted from the port of Ostend, Belgium, with VOS Start on duty 24/7, safely deploying service teams to the wind turbines. These operations are carried out via a gangway or by crew-transfer vessel (CTV).
VOS Start’s capabilities facilitate the provision of not only W2W services, but also supply duties that are normally carried out by platform-supply vessels (PSV). This helps streamline operations and reduce costs for the client. For this charter, VOS Start has been fitted with a three-dimensional motion-compensation system (3D Tip), with a lift capacity of up to 5 tons.
VOS Start and her sister VOS Stone are modern vessels, purpose built for Vroon in 2017 to support offshore operations in the Renewable and Oil & Gas industries. Both are equipped with motion-compensated offshore gangways and 50T active-heave-compensated cranes. A covered warehouse on the main-deck level enhances versatility for cargo handling, passenger transfers or subsea-support operations.
VOS Stone and VOS Start provide hotel-type accommodation for up to 60 client personnel, with comfortable cabins, fully equipped office space, WI-FI connection and recreation facilities that include both a cinema and a gym.