Finland’s Wärtsilä has secured a contract to design a jack-up lift vessel for a Chinese yard. While Wärtsilä claims the contract has been signed with a well known Chinese yard, it did not reveal the name of the yard. The Finnish company said there was an option for three more vessels.

The Wärtsilä design is developed in collaboration with Altis, a consultancy company specializing in the lift boat market.

Lift vessels are self-propelled and provide an offshore elevating platform with manoeuvring capabilities to support various operations, including oil well intervention activities, and the maintenance, repairs, upgrades and removal of offshore rigs.

This company claims its liftboat design provides better performance compared to conventional designs, with improvements made with crane capacity, Maritime Labour Convention compliance, accommodation, operational water depth, and DP2.

“Wärtsilä was chosen to design this new series of vessels because of our expertise, as well as our strong track record in the offshore market. Furthermore, our global engineering and project development services mean that we can be a valuable local partner to both the yard and the owner,” says Riku-Pekka Hägg, Vice President, Ship Design, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.

The 70.5 metre long vessel can accommodate 250 people and will be capable of operating in water depths of up to 75 metres. It is scheduled for delivery to the customer in September, 2017.

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