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 shipyard in Denmark and is expected to be completed during Q1 2016.
Wärtsilä provided the original designs for the Viking II, earlier known as Veritas Viking II, 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 fulfill the requirements for Special Purpose Ships and will in the future be named Wind Innovation.
"This is a fast delivery project and it was essential that our naval architects could respond to the owner's needs quickly. This we are able to achieve and our design will result in a vessel capable of operating efficiently in challenging sea and weather conditions with a high level of passenger comfort," says Ove H. Wilhelmsen, Managing Director of Wärtsilä Ship Design Norway.
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.