Marco Polo Marine to Build, Operate CSOV as Offshore Wind Industry 'Grapples with Shortage'

Singapore-listed firm Marco Polo Marine said Tuesday it planned to build, own and operate a new Commissioning Service Operation Vessel (CSOV) to meet the rising demand for support vessels required to service the booming offshore wind farm industry in Asia. 

When completed in the first quarter of 2024, the vessel will also be the first CSOV to be designed in Asia.

"The group will be funding the construction of the vessel with its existing resources and borrowings from financial institutions. A new CSOV is currently valued at about US$60 million," Marco Polo Marine said.

According to the company, the CSOV, with a length of 83m and a beam of 21 meters, is based on the latest design, which has been co-developed by Marco Polo Marine and Seatech Solutions International (S) Pte. Ltd., and will be used in commissioning works during the construction of offshore wind farms, as well as their maintenance operations.

The vessel, which will be able to accommodate 110 personnel on board,  will be equipped with walk-to-work motion compensated gangway for safe personnel transfer from the vessel to the turbines and will have a 3D motion compensated crane to facilitate cargo transfer.

"The vessel will also be equipped with state-of-the-art green technology, such as hybrid battery-based energy storage systems, that will
reduce carbon emissions by up to 15%-20% and designed as future-ready, catering for methanol fuel to enable low carbon emissions," the company said.

Sean Lee, CEO of Marco Polo Marine said: "In March this year, we unveiled new designs for wind farm service vessels, and have received keen interest from offshore wind turbine makers and offshore wind farm developers. We observed that the industry continues to grapple with a CSOV shortage globally and charter rates continue to surge as well as the need to combat climate change.

"It is a giant leap forward for the offshore maritime industry, and we are optimistic about the ability to meet the rising demand for this vessel type with the deployment of its own CSOV in 1Q2024 tentatively. We will be making the relevant announcements once we have secured charter contracts for the vessel.”