Roll Group adds another MC vessel to its fleet

Heavy lifting and moving specialist Roll Group has added another module carrier to its fleet of vessels.

Roll Group said on Wednesday that it officially took ownership of an additional vessel from the market on January 6, 2020.

According to the company, the 146-meter long and 32-meter wide module carrier has 12,285t deadweight and is slightly smaller than the current carriers in the fleet – BigRoll Bering and BigRoll Beaufort – but has a wider deck space than the RollDock dock type vessels.

The newly acquired vessel was originally built in 2015, and will soon be painted in Roll Group livery and renamed as BigRoll Biscay.

Adriaan Aarts, Roll Group CEO, said: “We are convinced this is a good investment considering the improving outlook for the years ahead. We expect many developments in the near future and have identified a need for additional tonnage to serve our clients in the oil and gas and offshore wind markets.

“Our current module carriers are perfectly suited to serve these markets, but given the large scale of some of the upcoming projects, further expansion of our fleet is necessary. The acquisition of the BigRoll Biscay is the next step in the development strategy of Roll Group.”

Although this new vessel is a little smaller in length than the first two BigRoll ships, it has many similarities.

The flush cargo deck of the BigRoll Biscay measures 123.8 x 32.2 meters, compared to 125 x 42 meters on the BigRoll Bering and Beaufort.

The overall deck load capacity of all module carriers is 20 metric tonnes per square meter. The BigRoll Biscay isn’t ice-class certified – but in contrast, the Biscay does have DP2.

Peter Rondhuis, Roll Group CCO, stated: “This new vessel will enable us to serve clients that require DP capabilities for their projects and also provides more flexibility and back-up for our existing fleet. Our existing module carriers are DP ready and can be upgraded to full DP if so required.

“In the coming years, Roll Group intends to further expand its fleet and heavy lift equipment as well as strengthen its organization with carefully selected partnerships in order to handle larger-scale projects.”

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