The newest addition to Vroon fleet, VOS Stone, was Christened on Friday 8 December. In a ceremony conducted in Rotterdam, the vessel was named by Mrs Ingrid van Driel, Vroon Group Controller, the company said in its press release.
VOS Stone is a state-of-the-art subsea-support walk-to-work vessel and sister vessel to VOS Start, currently employed at the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea. Both vessels have been purpose built to support offshore operations in the Renewable industry and walk-to-work projects in the Oil & Gas industry. VOS Stone was delivered to Vroon by Fujian Southeast Shipbuilding, China in July 2017. After undergoing final outfitting works in the Netherlands, she is now ready to commence operations in the North Sea.
VOS Stone, like her sister vessel, is equipped with a motion-compensated offshore gangway and a 50T active-heave-compensated crane. A covered warehouse on the main-deck level enhances the vessel’s versatility to perform cargo handling and passenger transfers to and from offshore assets, such as wind turbines, offshore platforms or CTVs (crew-transfer vessels), as well as engage in subsea-support operations.
With clients often spending more than 14 days on board, today’s onshore internet, multimedia and hotel standards have become the norm for offshore operations. VOS Stone exceeds all requirements, providing hotel-type accommodation for up to 60 client personnel, with comfortable cabins, fully equipped office space, excellent WI-FI connection and recreation facilities that include both a cinema and a gym.
VOS Stone has already been awarded a contract by VBMS to support inter-array cabling operations at the Arkona Offshore Windfarm during the first half of next year. In summer 2018, the vessel will undertake similar operations for E.ON, working on commissioning operations at the same Windfarm.