Dong Fang Offshore (DFO), a subsidiary of Taiwan's Hung Hua Construction, has acquired a construction service operation vessel (CSOV) formerly operated by Swire Pacific Offshore.
Pacific Constructor, formerly named Seabed Constructor, is the tenth vessel to join DFO's fleet of fully-owned vessels. It will also be the first windfarm SOV to be owned and operated by a Taiwanese company.
Following its ongoing re-flagging to Taiwan, the vessel will be manned entirely by a Taiwanese crew.
Pacific Constructor will be based out of the Port of Taichung, Taiwan's second largest port. The Norwegian-built, DP-equipped vessel boasts accommodation for up to 102 personnel, diesel-electric propulsion, a 250-tonne active heave compensated main crane, a 1,300-square-metre aft deck, and two hangars for housing remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
Among the vessel's claims to fame are its discoveries of the wreckages of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan in 2018, the South Korean ore carrier Stellar Daisy, the French submarine Minerve, and the German World War I cruiser Scharnhorst in 2019, and the American battleship USS Nevada in 2020. The discoveries were made while the vessel was chartered by US-based Ocean Infinity.
The vessel was also deployed twice in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. However, both search efforts were unsuccessful.
Pacific Constructor has already departed for Taiwan. Immediately upon arrival, it will commence work for an unnamed offshore wind developer.
The vessel will later be fitted with a walk-to-work system, crewboat landings, and other amenities suitable for its future service as a CSOV.
