Offshore wind crew transfer specialist Tidal Transit has added two more vessels to the fleet as it moves to meet increased demand from new and established developers.
The company, heading towards a decade in the sector, has introduced Ava Sofie and Honor Mhari, named after the youngest daughters of directors Adam Wright and Leo Hambro.
They bring the total number of vessels to six.
The 19m Southboats come from the used market, having previously been owned by international shipping company Vroon, and have undergone full refurbishment at Grimsby Shipyard Services, in Port of Grimsby East.
Changes have been made to increase speed, fuel efficiency and transfer performance.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has also seen social distancing measures introduced with the installation of additional crew and passenger separators to allow continued operations for wind farm clients.
“We are very proud of the impressive utilisation and reliability records of our current CTVs,” said Mr Hambro.
“The fleet has racked up some incredible statistics since new, constantly running at over 88 per cent utilisation since new with 98.7 per cent availability to charterers during that time. “This is the result of the success of our in-house preventative and reactive maintenance team, as well as the high performance and durability of the vessels’ hull form.
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“We saw the MAN-powered Southboats as particularly attractive additions to the fleet, due to shared common parts, and their design, which will allow us to diversify and serve projects requiring shallower drafts. We believe people will be very surprised to see what we will achieve with these proven Southboats hull forms with the modifications that we have already, and will continue, to make.”
Both are now available to charter, doubling up the capability on the east coast, where four vessels are based. Two others are serving west coast contracts.
Depending on the work won, they are likely to operate from Grimsby or Wells, close to the team’s North Norfolk base.
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“We have two boats based in Grimsby, ready for charter now, and we have moved these two down to Wells, where we are hopeful of some work,” Mr Hambro added.
It comes as the 海角视频 completes a month of coal-free electricity generation, with offshore wind playing a key part in keeping the lights on.