Sinopacific sees first OSV order from Africa

The newbuild contract is for four SPP35 medium platform supply vessels (PSVs) and there is also a letter of intention for a further two large SPP50 PSVs.

Over the past two years, Sinopacific has successfully sold 20 similar vessels which serve extensively in the world’s most active oil exploitation regions, including the North Sea, West Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Asia – but Africa is a completely new market for the company.

The design for the new vessels employs a fully diesel electric propulsion system and applies the most advanced efficient azimuth thruster driven by variable frequency power, combined with the dynamic positioning II system (DP-II), to effectively enhance vessel handling and positioning.

They will be built at Sinopacific’s Dayang Shipyard. Wang Jianding, general manager of Dayang Shipbuilding, said: “Dayang has been focusing on efficiently building bulk carriers. This time, the building of high value added OSVs is a major strategic initiative taken by Sinopacific to transform and upgrade Dayang in the downturn of the current shipbuilding market.”

All six vessels are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2014.