A2SEA’s second offshore installation vessel, a sister vessel to SEA INSTALLER, was christened at the COSCO shipyard in China on December 10th 2013. The new vessel was named SEA CHALLENGER.
In March 2012, A2SEA signed a brand new contract with COSCO Shipyard Group Co. Ltd., for the construction of yet another jack-up vessel specially designed for installing offshore wind turbines. The $155 million agreement with COSCO Shipyard was for a vessel that’s almost identical to SEA INSTALLER.
Of course, it’s no easy task to improve on SEA INSTALLER’s capabilities, but this new vessel does feature a larger crane that can lift up to 900 tonnes – 100 tonnes more than her sister vessel. The increased lifting capacity will meet the trend toward even larger turbines engineered for offshore use.
Expected time of delivery from the shipyard is the beginning of 2014 and SEA CHALLENGER will start work immediately on DONG Energy’s Westermost Rough.
[mappress] Press Release, December 11, 2013