HAMBURG – The SOV vessel WINDEA Leibniz returns to ULSTEIN Verft for an upgrade. After installation of an adjustable pedestal for the gangway, and a 50 per cent increase of single cabins for charterers, the vessel will be ready for assignments in the Baltic Sea as well as the North Sea, and with a status as a CSOV to support construction and commissioning of offshore windfarms.

Bernhard Schulte Offshore managing director Matthias Müller said, “After the conversion, this will be one of very few vessels with 60 single cabins for charterers, compared to the current 40. This means we can take more people, enabling the vessel to operate as a commissioning service operation vessel. Installation of an adjustable pedestal for the vessel´s Uptime gangway means it can cater to transition pieces (TPs) of any height. The vessel will also be one of the few purpose-built SOVs that can work in the Baltic, which has TPs that are not as high.”

The WINDEA Leibniz has proven to be a very capable vessel from the start. It started work for Siemens Gamesa at the Sandbank and DanTysk offshore windfarms. After that, the vessel undertook a summer campaign for GE at the Merkur windfarm. Lately, the vessel has supported installation of the infield cables for a windfarm that is under construction in the Baltic.

“The vessel was delivered by ULSTEIN Verft in 2017 and appears brand new, as if delivered yesterday. The quality and finishing are outstanding. That is one of the reasons why we choose to do the upgrade at ULSTEIN Verft,” says Managing Director Matthias Müller at Bernhard Schulte Offshore.

The WINDEA Leibniz arrived at ULSTEIN Verft on 31 October 2022 and the upgrade is scheduled for completion in February 2023. “We have high expectations of this vessel, she is already a top-of-the-class vessel with high environmental capability’s well above 2,5m Hs and a very low fuel oil consumption in DP mode due to the installed Siemens Blue Drive. Now we intend to further strengthen her operational flexibility,” ends Müller.