Bourbon Offshore has entered into a strategic partnership with IWS Fleet, the vessel owning company of Norway-based Integrated Wind Solutions, to address the needs of the commissioning and maintenance market of offshore wind farms in France.
Bourbon said the agreement will allow it to market and operate IWS' new class of specialised windfarm support walk-to-work vessels in France. The ship management will be undertaken by French affiliate Bourbon Offshore Surf.
IWS currently has four such vessels under construction in China. The two first vessels will be delivered in the second and third quarters of 2023 and the remaining two will be handed over in the first half of 2024.
Each commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) will have a length of 90 metres, accommodations for 120 personnel, a DP2 system, a 3D motion compensated gangway and crane, and battery hybrid propulsion.
IWS holds options for ordering two additional vessels from the same series, which is designed by Kongsberg Maritime.