MacGregor davits for offshore wind market

MacGregor has won davit orders for two low-emission 81m service operation vessels (SOVs) designed to act as 'mother-ships' for wind turbine technicians.

These contracts have been placed by Spanish shipyard GONDAN, which is responsible for the construction of the SOVs.

Ordered by Østensjø Rederi, the vessels will serve DONG Energy’s Race Bank and Project One offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

"Even though the offshore market is experiencing low investment levels, there is a need for this kind of equipment, and customers trust us by ordering MacGregor davit systems," said Esko Karvonen, head of smart ocean technology division, MacGregor.

He added: "This is mainly because our systems are at the high end of the quality scale with a strong focus on performance and reliability."

Each vessel will be fitted with a MacGregor HMD G110 davit designed for launching and recovery of personnel-carrying 'daughter' craft and a MacGregor HMD A34 davit designed for launching and recovery of rescue boats.

A MacGregor G110 davit has an 11-tonne lifting capacity, while the A34 Davit has a 3.4-tonne lifting capacity.

The delivery includes a high-speed winch system, anti-pendulum docking head and an automatic parking cradle for the craft.

Bjørnar Bakke, MacGregor sales manager, said: “MacGregor's G-type davits have a well-proven design with high performance solutions and trusted reliability.”

"We have delivered over a thousand davit systems and constantly adapt these systems to meet our customers' needs.”

He concluded: “We have worked closely with Østensjø at the early stages of the project to ensure that the davit systems are the perfect fit for the vessels and their operational criteria.”

Davit systems for the first vessel will be delivered in June 2017, while davit systems for the second vessel will be delivered in December 2017.