Construction of further installation vessel for offshore wind farms
Sketch of the “Vidar”
The vessel, which will be named “Vidar”, is to start operation in 2013 and will be Hochtief’s fourth heavy-duty craft, following its sister vessel “Innovation” and the jack-up platforms “Odin” and “Thor”.
It will be used for the company’s own offshore construction contracts and will also be chartered out.
The “Vidar’s” main features will be a 1,200-metric-tonne crane, a loading capacity of up to 6,500 metric tonnes, a powerful engine allowing speeds of up to 12 knots, and the ability to work in water depths of up to 50m. These properties make the “Vidar” one of the most powerful lifting vessels in Northern Europe, according to Hochtief.
The vessel will be financed by means of an operate-lease structure with a subsidiary of Santander acting as the lessor, and with the involvement of KfW IPEX Bank, Norddeutsche Landesbank, the Spanish CaixaBank, and Bankhaus Lampe.
Parallel to the order, Hochtief Solutions has commissioned the construction of three large work pontoons. In addition, work is currently underway at Crist on the fit-out of the “Vidar’s” somewhat larger sister vessel “Innovation”, which is to be operated and chartered out from mid-2012 by HGO InfraSea Solutions, a Hochtief joint venture with GeoSea, Belgium. The “Innovation’s” first assignment will be at the Global Tech I wind farm in the German North Sea.
