Norway: Farstad Orders Two AHTS from STX OSV

Farstad Shipping ASA has, through its wholly owned subsidiary Farstad Supply AS, reached an agreement with STX OSV AS to build 2 Anchor Handling / Offshore Service vessels (AHTS) of the type UT 731 CD. Contract value is approx. NOK 1.2 billion.

The vessels are designed by Rolls Royce Marine with a total length of 87.4 meters and breadth of 21.0 meters. Bollard pull will be approx. 260 tons and installed power is approx. 24 000 BHP. The vessels will be built according to DNV’s strictest environmental class – “Clean Design” – and will be arranged for safe and efficient deepwater operations. The newbuilds are of the same design as Langsten has previously delivered four of to Farstad during 2009-2010.

The steel hulls will be built in Romania and outfitting yard will be STX OSV Langsten in Tomrefjord. Delivery of the vessels will be April and June 2013 respectively.

These newbuilds are part of Farstad’s fleet renewal and focus on the segment for deepwater activities.

With this latest order Farstad will have 8 vessels under construction at a contract value of NOK 3.2 billion.

Farstad Shipping’s fleet currently consists of 57 vessels (32 AHTS, 23 PSV and 2 SUBSEA) and 6 PSV and 2 AHTS under construction. The company’s operations are run from Aalesund, Aberdeen, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Macaé and Rio de Janeiro by a total of 1900 employees onshore and offshore. The company’s strategy is to be a major international supplier of large, modern offshore service vessels to the oil industry. We also remain committed to solid long-term charter profile for the fleet.

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Source: Farstad, June 22, 2011.