Solstad places order for six more ROVs for its fleet

Norway’s Solstad Offshore has placed an order with compatriot Omega Subsea Robotics for the delivery of six additional remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems that will be integrated onboard its selected vessels this year.

With six ROV systems already in place, this order doubles Solstad and Omega Subsea’s total ROV system count from six to twelve.

As part of the collaboration, Omega Subsea will be responsible for operating, maintaining, and manning the ROV systems, also through the installation and delivery phase.

In line with the company’s growth strategy, Trond Berge, General Manager of Omega Subsea, mentions the need for additional personnel, both onshore and offshore: “This expansion emphasizes our commitment to continuous growth and strengthens our industrial position. We are in a phase of building and development, and are looking at new opportunities, especially in a global context, in collaboration with Solstad. We plan to recruit between 20 to 25 new employees during the year to further strengthen our expertise.”

Omega Subsea has contracted Norway’s Kystdesign for the delivery of the six complete ROV systems.

Said to represent Kystdesign’s largest contract to date, the contract award includes the delivery of four standard Constructor ROV systems and two brand-new compact Constructor ROV systems. The systems will be delivered to Omega Subsea in three deliveries of two systems each, and all are to be completed by the end of the year.

“In addition to being very pleased with the products from Kystdesign, we have also developed a new ROV model in collaboration with them, a compact version of their top model Constructor,” said Morten Haugen, Operations Manager at Omega Subsea.

“This will be known as ‘Constructor Compact’, and Omega Subsea Robotics will take delivery of the first two in this series in 2024. It has been important for us to be able to influence the development of a new ROV model together with Kystdesign, as this is a model that is specially designed for our future needs.”

According to Kystdesign, the development of the new compact version is currently in progress at the design stage and will be a considerably smaller version of the company’s standard Constructor ROV, but with the same power and specifications.

All ROVs included in the delivery are powered with 220 horsepower and designed to operate down to ocean depths of 3,000 meters.

“We appreciate being challenged by our customers to further develop the design of our products. As in this case with Omega Subsea Robotics, our joined efforts resulted in development of a new ROV system. This new compact version can be operated from smaller scale vessels which in turn helps our clients reduce their emissions and cut costs. We anticipate that this design will be of interest to future clients as well,” said Åge Holsbrekken, CCO of Kystdesign.