Baltic Workboats (BWB) and Damen Shipyards have signed a partnership agreement for a programme of building Damen’s popular crew transfer vessel (CTV), the Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 2710, at BWB’s facility on Saaremaa Island in Estonia.
The FCS 2710 is a versatile vessel and those built by BWB will undertake a range of duties in the North and Baltic seas.
These will include deploying and retrieving technicians and their equipment during the construction and commissioning phases of the wind turbine installations and then transporting the maintenance crews that keep them operational throughout their lifetimes.
Damen said that a range of propulsion configuration options and preparations for alternative fuels will be available to meet the requirements of regulators and customers.
Damen’s Twin-Axe hull form ensures “excellent” safekeeping capabilities and fuel economy as well as provides extensive deck space and accommodation.
Building these CTVs in the region increases the availability to both the Baltic region and other European markets, and brings Damen closer to its customers in North-Eastern Europe, said the Dutch shipbuilding group.
“Baltic Workboats is an ideal partner for us with their strategic location and proven track record of delivering high quality vessels,” said Jan-Wim Dekker , Chief Commercial Officer at Damen Shipyards.
“Our partnership with them gives us extra construction capacity to meet the growing demand for proven crew transfer vessels in northern Europe. Working together will bring us closer to this fast-developing region as well as enabling us to meet the demand for high quality vessels that we are seeing from our customers.”
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The production of the first batch of vessels is already underway, Damen Shipyards said. The aluminum for the first hulls was ct on 9 May and the first vessel is expected to be ready for delivery in the summer of 2024 .
Over the next five years, more than ten FCS 2710s will be built using serial production techniques adopted from the automotive sector and adapted for the shipbuilding sector.
The FSC 2710 class, unveiled in May 2018, is one metre longer and extends one metre higher above the waterline than its predecessor the FCS 2610, which allows it to operate in wave heights of above two metres.