The Netherlands-headquartered Eneco has signed a five-year crew transfer vessel (CTV) charter and partnership agreement with offshore vessel owner Windcat .
This long-term charter will allow the safe transport of technicians offshore and will also allow the companies to work together on decarbonisation of Eneco’s marine logistics using Windcat’s hydrogen dual-fuel solutions.
The Windcat 32, the first vessel for the charter, will be customised to Eneco’s needs, including the installation of an IMO Tier III engine that uses Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) that reduces NOx emissions, Windcat said.
The partnership allows for additional vessels to be used to further support the existing projects as well as new offshore wind farm projects that Eneco will be part of.
Windcat launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered CTV, the Hydrocat 48, in May last year. A few months later, the ship owner ordered six more hydrogen-powered CTVs to be built by 2024.
“With the Hydrocat 48, we invested heavily in emission reduction by using a dual fuel hydrogen engine, one of the reasons Eneco wanted to partner with us “, said Willem van der Wel , Managing Director of Windcat.
Windcat Workboats owns and operates a growing fleet of 50 vessels and several ships in the build including the new MK5 series.