Canadian owner buys battery-hybrid newbuild for 'bargain price'

Canada’s Atlantic Towing Limited has struck a deal with Norway’s Havyard Ship Technology to buy a battery-hybrid-powered platform supply vessel (PSV) newbuild that was started in 2014 before the downturn in the offshore oil market.

The original contract for the 89.7-m platform supply vessel, Hull No 126, was signed in 2014 by Iceland’s Fafnir Offshore. Havyard cancelled the deal on 3 January 2017 after the buyer failed to pay additional predelivery installments to delay the vessel’s delivery as a result of the oil market slump.

The unfinished hull presented Atlantic Towing with an opportunity to grab a next-generation vessel at a bargain price. In announcing the contract with Atlantic Towing on the Oslo stock exchange, Havyard said “net profit for the project is calculated to be low”.

Still, the deal is a win-win for both buyer and seller. “We chose to lay up the hull when the original contract was cancelled, and although we avoided the full cost of completing the vessel, it has nonetheless entailed bound-up capital”, said Havyard Group chief executive Geir Johan Bakke. “It is fantastic that we have now found a new buyer and it will have a positive liquidity effect for the group”.

Atlantic Towing general manager and vice president Gilles Gagnon was just as pleased by the deal. “This is an exciting next step in Atlantic Towing’s strategy to grow and continue meeting current and future demands of customers”, he said. Mr Gagnon said the vessel’s large cargo capacities, fuel efficiency and low-emissions propulsion made it a “best-in-class PSV”.

Based on a Havyard 833 WE design, the PSV will be named Atlantic Harrier, with a length of 89.7 m, beam of 19.6 m, FiFi class 1, oil recovery and Nofo class notations. With a 1,002-m² deck area and accommodation for 54, Atlantic Harrier will possess an Ice Class 1B notation, making it capable of operating in both the North Atlantic and North Sea.

While a charter for the vessel has not yet been confirmed, an Atlantic Towing spokesperson told Offshore Support Journal that the vessel meets the requirements of several of its customers in Atlantic Canada and the North Sea.

Atlantic Harrier will be equipped with a hybrid battery-diesel-electric propulsion package, contra-rotating propulsion drives, Clean Design notation, and Tier III-compliant engines. It will utilise 650 kW of installed battery power to fully optimise vessel operating modes to reduce fuel consumption during transit, dynamic positioning and standby activities.

Norwegian Electric Systems will deliver the vessel’s diesel-electric propulsion system, energy storage system and bridge, with the battery manufactured by Corvus Energy. Havyard will supply its own ballast water technology system.

While Atlantic Towing has no firm plans to retrofit the rest of its fleet with battery-hybrid packages, the company does believe it "provides the bet solution for its customers with respect to fuel efficiency and carbon footprint reduction", said the company spokesperson.