Bourbon entered into a strategic partnership with IWS Fleet AS, the vessel owning company of Integrated Wind Solutions ASA to address the French commissioning and maintenance market of offshore wind farms.
This agreement will allow Bourbon to market and operate the IWS’s “Skywalker class” windfarm specialized support walk-to-work vessels in France. The ship management will be performed by the French affiliate Bourbon Offshore Surf, with a strong footprint on French Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, as the group currently employs about 500 French seafarers with relevant offshore experience.
IWS currently has four vessels under construction, the two first IWS vessels will be delivered in Q2/Q3 2023 and the remaining two in the first half of 2024. The company holds options for ordering two additional “Skywalker class” vessels.
With this partnership, Bourbon's ambition is to offer a range of services dedicated to the maintenance of offshore wind farms.
The “Skywalker class” Commissioning Service Operation Vessel (“CSOV”) DP2 walk-to-work vessel with a length of 90m has a total capacity of 120 personnel on board. Equipped with 3D compensated gangway and crane, this latest generation vessel is also fitted with battery hybrid propulsion to reduce its CO2 emissions and to operate zero emission in periods.
Bourbon can also provide complementary ROV, subsea engineering and survey services for below water services while IWS through its subsidiary ProCon Wind Energy A/S can provide relevant services related to above water line services, balance of plant including services and transition piece and offshore substations.