Wärtsilä design for Chinese dive support/multi-lay vessel

Wärtsilä has signed a contract with Shanghai Bestway Marine Engineering Design Co Ltd to design a new type of deepwater dive support vessel. The ship is to be built for China state-owned Shanghai Salvage Bureau (SSB), one of the largest salvage companies in China. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in January.

The Wärtsilä design combines the capabilities of a dive support vessel, multilay and construction vessels, including the ability to conduct deepwater salvage operations, deepwater pipe-laying and construction work, and saturation (SAT) diving operations for 24 divers using two diving bells. When built, the ship will be the world’s first SAT diving support vessel with multi-lay and ultra-deepwater construction capabilities.

“The new vessel will certainly be the most sophisticated asset in our fleet. It will carry out operations in very deep waters in often difficult conditions. We believe the Wärtsilä design will meet all our requirements for successful operations,” said Mr Huang Yan, director of the deep diving technology development centre at SSB.