MO4 Raring to Go on Nordergründe Offshore Wind Farm

MO4, Mainprize Offshore Ltd’s newest wind farm service vessel (WFSV), is ready to start an eight-year contract with Deutsche Windtechnik on the Nordergründe wind farm in the German North Sea.

The 23-metre WFSV will perform crew transfer, cargo and equipment duties out of the port of Hooksiel.

MO4 features a dedicated three-point mooring system, a fuel transfer system and a draft of 1.4 metres. The vessel is fitted with twin Caterpillar C32 diesel engines driving fixed pitch propellers that gives the vessel a service speed of 26 knots, even when fully loaded.

She can carry up to 30,000 litres of fuel or 20,000 litres of water and has provision for 4 x 20′ containers and 30t of deck cargo.

The 23-metre WFSV is a product of a partnership between Aluminium Marine Consultants (AMC) and Mainprize Offshore. The vessel will be on the quayside, berth VB32, at Seawork International held in Southampton from 13 to 15 June before heading to Germany.

“We chose AMC because of its flexibility and the company’s attention to detail and workmanship, coupled with its willingness to meet the tight deadlines the client required,” said Bob Mainprize, manging director, Mainprize Offshore Ltd.

He pointed out that from the keel being laid up to the handover, the build time for the MO4 has been less than nine months. This has meant a build time saving of almost four months reducing build finance cost and risk.

“This means that MO4 will start to pay back four months earlier than any other builder can offer,” Mainprize added.