Estonian yard to build windfarm catamarans for Sure Wind Marine

Vessel & ROV News - November 30, 2011

The first for Sure Wind Marine's catamarans will be delivered in May 2012.

BLRT Marketex in Estonia and Sure Wind Marine Ltd in the UK have entered into contract to build four 19.5m windfarm service catamarans.

The catamarans will be available for projects throughout Europe and built to DNV class and dual UK MCA and German Stability rules to ensure full flexibility.

“This is first major contract for BLRT Marketex in windfarm service industry, which marks a new stage in development of our company. Our extensive experience in small vessels´ building gives us the strong confidence in success of this project. We strongly believe in potential of this growing industry and are proud to build boats in close cooperation with experienced operators and designers to achieve best performance,” said Vladislav Markin, head of BLRT Marketex's shipbuilding division.

Dominic Abraham, Managing Director of Northumberland-based Sure Wind Marine, said: “We are very pleased to be building vessels at such a well-equipped yard with an experienced team.

"The team has developed a flexible vessel capable of working throughout Europe in a range of conditions and roles. The vessels are designed with proven technologies emphasizing reliability, efficiency and operational range and rely heavily on Incat’s experience from earlier designs. The increased size over previous Incat designs allows for extra passenger comfort and space as well as 14 tonnes of cargo capacity.”

The vessels are designed by Incat Crowther of Australia in accordance with Det Norske Veritas/+1A1-HSLC-R2 Wind Farm service 1 rules, UK MCA SCV, Category 2 and are compliant with German Flag State requirements. They will be equipped with twin MTU 8V2000 M72 engines (720 kW each), which will allow them to reach a maximum speed of 31 knots and a service speed of 26.5 knots at 85 per cent MCR.

The first boat will be delivered early May 2012 with each subsequent vessel delivering at 1.5 month intervals.