Farstad poised to order PSVs

Farstad Shipping ASA has received a Letter of Intent from Norsk Hydro for the supply of 3 platform supply vessels (PSV). The contract periods are for 5 years, 10 years and 10 years respectively and the total contract value is approx. NOK 1.0 billion.

The 5 year contract will be serviced by Far Symphony, a vessel which already is working for Norsk Hydro. Start-up of this contract is April 2005. The two 10-year contracts commence in August 2005 and October 2006, respectively. For these contracts, two newbuildings of the type UT 751E will be ordered, representing an investment in excess of NOK 500 million. Currently, Farstad is negotiating with several yards for these newbuildings and hopes to make a decision soon. Norwegian yards are the most likely choice. Due to the early start of the first of the 10-year contracts, Far Swan will be operated as a front runner until the new vessels are delivered in the 2nd quarter 2006.

The UT 751E is a new design characterised by high capacities both above and below deck offering a deadweight capacity in excess of 5,000 tonnes. The vessels will have a length of 93m, a breadth of 21m, a strong focus on environmental and operational safety, and will be constructed to the highest DNV Class. They will also be the very first to be equipped with an automatic hose handling system, and as such represents a milestone in the development of more safe and mechanised operations offshore. A bespoke roll-damping system will provide roll reduction up to 75% and the hull shape is designed for optimum speeds in all seastates which is of great importance in the areas these ships will be trading.