Multi-million Vessel Charter for Marine Renewables by Subocean
23 April 2009
Aberdeen based subsea construction company, Subocean Group, has chartered a DP2 subsea support vessel in what represents a £30 million investment for the subsea installation company.
The Polar Prince will go on charter to Subocean in late July 2009 for two years, with three one year options. The vessel, which will be supplied complete with survey and ROV spreads, will mobilise to the Greater Gabbard project, the first 140 Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) offshore wind-farm development in the world, off the coast of Suffolk.
Subocean was contracted by Fluor Ltd on behalf of Scottish and Southern Electricity Board to install power cables for the windfarm under the seabed. The company will use its own cable lay spread and cable plough on the vessel to lay and bury the 33kVA power cables in 20 metres of water.
The Polar Prince will also be used on the Vattenfall Thanet project off the North East coast of Kent where Subocean has a contract to lay and bury 33kVA power cables.
Subocean's operations director, Mike Daniel said: “Demand for vessels in marine renewables remains high. By securing the Polar Prince on a long-term charter, we are in a prime position to meet the needs of renewable energy companies.”
“We continue to win work in the marine renewable sector and are investing significantly in vessels and specialist equipment to maintain our market-leading position and ensure delivery on time and on budget for all our clients in a sector which is noticeably picking up pace.”
Subocean Group provides turnkey project design and implementation, including engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of subsea facilities. It also supplies offshore management personnel, divers, life support technicians, ROV operators, subsea equipment operators and offshore administrators. In addition, it is helping to meet the infrastructure gap by hiring out specialist subsea equipment to the major contractors operating in oil and gas and offshore windfarms.
