Dutch ship owner C-Bed has contracted Wärtsilä Ship Design to supply the design for rebuilding its Seismic Survey Vessel, the ‘Viking II’, for use as a hotel vessel. When completed, the rebuilt ship will be used to accommodate and transfer service personnel working on offshore wind farms. The rebuild project is being carried out at the Fayard AS shipyard in Denmark and is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2016. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in September.
Wärtsilä provided the original designs for the ‘Viking II’ earlier known as ‘Veritas Viking II’, which was delivered in 1999 to the original owners, Eidesvik of Norway. After the conversion, the vessel will have accommodation and hotel facilities for 125 people and will feature a heave compensated gangway. The converted vessel will fulfil the requirements for Special Purpose Ships and will in the future be named ‘Wind Innovation’.
Wärtsilä has considerable experience in producing designs for the offshore wind turbine market, both for service vessels as well as for installation applications. Conversion projects are becoming of increasing interest for owners since there is a current over-supply of ships in many of the offshore application markets.
Wärtsilä is a global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising technological innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximizes the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers.
In 2014, Wärtsilä's net sales totalled EUR 4.8 billion with approximately 17,700 employees. The company has operations in more than 200 locations in nearly 70 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Finland.