MOL Signs Asia's 1st Service Operation Vessel Time Charterer and Ship Building Contract

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced the signing of contracts to build and charter a service operation vessel (SOV, Note 1) that will provide maintenance support for the Greater Changhua Wind Farms in Taiwan.

On April 1st, MOL and Ta Tong Marine (TTM) signed a charter contract for the SOV with Ørsted Taiwan Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ørsted A/S in Denmark, through Ta San Shang Marine Co. Ltd., a joint company of MOL and TTM.

At the same time, Ta San Shang Marine signed a contract with VARD Singapore Pte. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of VARD Group A/S in Norway, to build the new vessel.

Image Credits: mol.co.jp

The SOV is designed by VARD Design in Norway and is slated to be delivered at Vard Vung Tau (a VARD subsidiary shipyard in Vietnam) during the first half of 2022. Then, it will provide maintenance support operations for the Greater Changhua Wind farms under development by Ørsted, for a term of 15 years, with an extension option to 20 years. This marks the first SOV project in Taiwan, and in fact, in all of Asia.

SOVs are ships specially designed to support the maintenance of offshore wind farms utilized mainly in Europe which is a center of offshore windfarm industry and expected to be utilized in Taiwan (Note 2) and other Asian areas with an expansion of offshore windfarms.

Through its tie-up with Ta Tong Marine, its longtime business partner in Taiwan, MOL is moving ahead to further develop and expand a new business domain in the emission-free field by building a new relationship with Ørsted, the world’s largest operator of offshore wind farms, backed by business experience in Taiwan and know-how accumulated in the offshore business, such as offshore operation using dynamic positioning system (DPS) and offshore accommodation.

The MOL Group anticipates customer needs and the demands of the times to continually drive and grow the “environmental and emission-free business,” striving to reduce its environmental impact.

(Note 1) What is a Service Operation Vessel (SOV)?
An SOV has accommodation for maintenance technicians working on the various wind turbines that make up an offshore wind farm, allowing them to stay on-site for extended periods.
SOVs are equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DPS) to constantly maintain a safe distance between the vessel and offshore wind farm, as well as a special gangway with a motion compensation function (absorbing hull movement due to wind and wave action, and so on), allowing the technicians to move safely between the vessel and the offshore wind turbines.

(Note 2) Offshore Windfarm in Taiwan
Taiwan strait, which is beside west coast of Taiwan Island, is endowed with suitable wind conditions for offshore wind farm. 5.5GW of construction of offshore windfarm from 2020 to 2025 has been approved and additional 10GW of offshore wind farm construction is now planned from 2026 to 2035.

SOV Basic Specs

Flag	Taiwan
Length	84.4m
Breath	19.5m
Draft	5.6m
Maximum Capacity	Approximately 90 Crews and Passengers
Main Features	DPS, Motion Compensated Gangway System
Vessel Picture

Greater Changhua Offshore Windfarm

Developer	Ørsted
Capacity	900MW (Greater Changhua 1 + 2a in total)
Location	35km – 60km off the Changhua coastline
Construction completion	2021-2022
Map

Ørsted

Name (Website)	Ørsted A/S (https://orsted.com )
Established year	1972 (changed name from Dong Energy to Ørsted in 2017)
Representative	Mr. Henrik Poulsen (President/CEO)
Headquarter Location	Fredericia, Denmark
Main Business	The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, and bioenergy plants, and provides energy products to its customers. Ørsted ranks number 1 in Corporate Knights’ 2020 index of the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world and is recognized on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate Change A List as a global leader on climate action.

TTM

Name	Ta Tong Marine Co., Ltd.
Established Year	1965
Representative	Mr. Hrong-Nain, Lin
Headquarter Location	Taiwan, Taipei City
Main Business	Shipowner, Ship Manager

VARD

Main Business
Name (Website)	VARD Group A/S
Established Year	1998
Representative	Mr. Erik Haakonsholm
Headquarter Location	Norway, Ålesund,

Reference: mol.co.jp

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