Red Rock Cranes for Dogger Bank Wind Farm SOVs

Red Rock has been awarded a contract by Vard for equipment supply for the three service operations vessels (SOVs) owned by North Star Renewables that have been chartered for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the UK.

Red Rock will deliver two 2T 3D Motion Compensated cranes, a 5T 3D Motion Compensated crane, three 2T Boatlanding cranes and three 1T Shipboard crane. The company will start delivering the equipment in 2022, with the contract to be completed in 2023.

The SOVs, chartered for a ten-year period with an option for three one-year extensions, will be built by Vard Vung Tau shipyard in Vietnam – to which Red Rock will deliver the cranes – and handed over to Dogger Bank Wind Farm operator Equinor in 2023.

One SOV will be of the VARD 4 19 design and the other two of VARD 4 12 design.

The vessel due to be delivered in January 2024 will be used for scheduled maintenance at Dogger Bank A and B, and will also serve Dogger Bank C once it enters operation. The two other SOVs – one of which is scheduled to be delivered in July 2023 and the other one in July 2024 – will be used for corrective maintenance at Dogger Bank A and B.

A further contract for an SOV to be used for corrective maintenance at Dogger Bank C will be signed at a later stage.

Dogger Bank is being built in three equal phases of 1.2 GW each and, once commissioned, will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

The first two phases, Dogger Bank A & B – a joint venture between Equinor, SSE Renewables, and Eni – are scheduled to be operational by 2024. The third phase, Dogger Bank C, owned by Equinor and SSE Renewable, is being developed on a different timescale with the operation date set for 2026.