Norway's IWS Fleet Orders 4 CSOVs in a Contract Worth EUR 260 Million

en.Wedoany.com Reported - IWS Fleet, a subsidiary of Norway's Integrated Wind Solutions ASA (IWS), has signed construction contracts for four Skywalker-class Commissioning Service Operation Vessels (CSOVs) for offshore wind, to be built by Nantong Rainbow Offshore & Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd. of China. The four vessels are under fixed-price turnkey contracts, with a total shipyard contract price of approximately EUR 260 million, or about EUR 65 million per vessel, with deliveries scheduled successively from 2029 to 2030. After all the new vessels are delivered, IWS Fleet's owned CSOV fleet will increase from 6 to 10 vessels.

The new vessels will continue to adopt the Skywalker-class design developed with the participation of Kongsberg Maritime, and will be equipped with a 3D motion-compensated crane and the Horizon motion-compensated gangway system supplied by MacGregor Norway. MacGregor confirmed on October 6 that it had received an equipment order from Nantong Rainbow for the four vessels, and has included the order in its new orders for the fourth quarter of 2026, with the related equipment to be fitted on the four CSOVs delivering from 2029 to 2030.

The Skywalker class is mainly used for the transfer of personnel and equipment during the installation, commissioning and subsequent O&M phases of offshore wind farms. IWS's existing vessels of the same class use dynamic positioning, plug-in hybrid and battery systems, and are equipped with fully motion-compensated personnel access and 3D motion-compensated lifting equipment. The four new vessels in this round will be built on the basis of the existing vessel platform, and IWS has not yet disclosed the specific length, beam, personnel capacity or power system model of the new vessels.

IWS Fleet has also secured options for another four vessels of the same type, with prices determined according to the fixed vessel price in this round and an adjustment mechanism based on changes in exchange rates and prices of major subcontracted equipment. If the options are subsequently exercised, these four vessels are scheduled for delivery from 2030 to 2031. After the existing four firm orders and all options are exercised, the corresponding Skywalker-class fleet could reach up to 14 vessels.

The firm orders in this round will be financed by IWS through a combination of cash generated from operating activities and new debt, with no plans for additional equity financing. Contract payments will be made in installments according to construction progress, with the remaining 50% of the vessel price payable upon vessel delivery, and the final debt financing structure will be determined based on liquidity, operating cash flow and debt financing capacity.

Nantong Rainbow Offshore & Engineering Equipment Co., Ltd. is located in Qidong, Jiangsu, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Rainbow Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Public documents show that its business includes the manufacturing of offshore engineering vessels, offshore wind equipment and other offshore engineering equipment.