Havyard design breaks Brazil

The company will design and deliver equipment for four anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels that are to be built and operated by Grupo CBO. Its Rio de Janeiro-based company, Havyard South American Ltda, set up in 2011, has been supporting customers that operate in Brazil and has worked on selling Havyard products and services in Brazil, but says it struggled with the “challenging” market.

“Brazil is a very challenging market in which to sell products and services, but there is also a great potential for us here,” said Kjell-Peder Overvåg, manager, Havyard South America Ltda. “We have to use our market knowledge and adapt Norwegian technology to meet Brazilian requirements.”

The contract also includes deliveries from other business areas in the Havyard Group, including Havyard integrated automation and alarm systems (IAS), power management system (PMS) and navigation and communications equipment from Havyard Power and Systems.

And now things are looking up as Petrobras, the biggest oil company in Brazil, is said to have “huge plans”, with a number of new FPSOs planned for operation in the coming years as well as drillships that are under construction. “There is therefore huge demand for support vessels,” added Mr Overvåg.

Havyard says its 843 design, a modern anchor-handling vessel, is a perfect fit for the Brazilian market. The focus has been on developing a cost-efficient vessel with the ability to tackle most types of jobs in waters of medium depth. The company says it provides good stability, a large work deck with cranes and equipment for safe anchor handling and a winch configuration that enables safe and efficient towing and other services for floating offshore installations.

For this contract, the Havyard 843 has also been adapted to specific tender requirements from Petrobras, for whom the vessels are being built for.