With the “Windward Paris”, the shipping company Windward Offshore has received the second CSOV vessel from the Vard shipyard. The ship will initially be deployed in the German Bight.
As a CSOV (Commissioning Service Operation Vessel), the “Windward Paris” is designed to support offshore wind farm installations, commissioning, operation and maintenance work. The Vard shipyard in Norway, which belongs to the Fincantieri Group, built the ship according to the Vard 4 19 design: it is 87.5 m long, 19.5 m wide and can accommodate up to 120 people. Like its sister ship “Windward Athens”, the “Windward Paris” is intended to combine “high operational performance with technology geared towards sustainability”.
According to a statement from the shipping company, the most important features include a height-adjustable, motion-compensated gangway with elevator system, a boat docking system that is also height-adjustable and a battery hybrid system that is prepared for future operation with sustainably produced methanol. This configuration is intended to enable safe transfers and reliable offshore performance while paving the way for lower-emission operations.
In addition, the “Windward Paris” is equipped with an integrated automation and bridge system as well as on-board systems for energy supply, control and communication. The ship also has an electrically controlled, motion-compensated crane, which was specially developed for offshore wind farms and enables smooth and precise lifting even under demanding conditions at sea.
“With the Windward Paris, we are adding additional capacity and flexibility to our fleet for our offshore wind customers,” said Caspar Blum, Managing Director of Windward Offshore. “The vessel is designed for safe personnel transfer, efficient offshore operations and reduced environmental impact. This delivery is another concrete step towards building a modern service platform that reliably supports projects from commissioning to long-term operation.”
With the delivery, the “Windward Paris” will be chartered out directly and will be used in the construction of a new offshore wind farm in the German Bight. The sister ship “Windward Athens” is currently underway as part of an O&M contract. The “Windward Munich” and “Windward Hamburg” are also under construction, also at Vard.
Windward Offshore is a joint venture founded in 2023 by SeaRenergy Offshore from the ASSC Group of Clasen Rickmers, Blue Star Group (an investment company founded by Erck Rickmers), the shipping company Diana Shipping and SeraVerse. Since last year, the Japanese trading group Marubeni has also held a quarter of the shares in the shipping company.
