On Christmas Eve, Spanish shipyard Gondan Shipbuilders inaugurated the Commissioning Service Operation vessel (CSOV) C491, built for Edda Wind.The new ship is a CSOV of similar design as the other six vessels being built at Gondan.
These eight vessels, along with the two SOVs being built at Astilleros Balenciaga, comprise Edda Wind's expansion program, with all vessels planned for delivery by 2025.
All eight vessels will be able to run on a hydrogen-based propulsion system based on the Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) concept.
These vessels will join a total fleet of ten vessels and serve as mother vessels for wind turbine technicians as they perform commissioning and maintenance work on offshore wind turbines.
The CSOVs are 88.3 in length and can accommodate 120 persons in total while the two SOVs can accommodate 60 persons. All units have high-standard cabins and common areas.
“Launching of a vessel is always a special moment and not a usual Christmas activity. Therefore, to observe the third of six sister vessels successfully launched is again an important milestone and a great achievement for Gondan and Edda Wind”, says CEO of Edda Wind, Kenneth Walland.
The first four of the new building series plus two existing vessels in the Edda Wind fleet are committed on medium- to long term contracts.
The C491 is the first of four vessels scheduled for delivery from late 2023 until mid 2025 that so far are not committed, however, the owner says they are expected to be delivered into a market that will have a high demand for these type of vessels for the foreseeable future
"We are currently observing significant increases in building and equipment costs and consider having vessels already on order and under construction as a great advantage for Edda Wind”, says Walland.