Eastern Shipbuilding Group and Hornbeck Offshore Services team up on ship conversion project in u.s. offshore wind market
PANAMA CITY, FL – Eastern Shipbuilding Group has been contracted by Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. to convert a 280-foot offshore supply vessel (OSV) to a service operation vessel (SOV) to meet the growing demand of the U.S. offshore wind market, as well as to serve the demands of the petro-energy flotel market. The vessel was constructed by Eastern Shipbuilding Group in 2014 and will be converted at the company’s 300-acre Allanton Shipyard. The HOSSOVTM 300E is a U.S. Flag, Jones Act compliant vessel capable of supporting both construction and O&M activities. The vessel is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2025.
“This SOV conversion is a transformational project that will serve the emerging U.S. offshore wind market,” said Joey D’Isernia, CEO of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. “We are proud to be the first shipbuilding company to blaze this trail with a vessel we crafted and with our great partners at Hornbeck Offshore Services.”
The HOSSOV™ 300E has been designed in collaboration with VARD, the original designer of the vessel, to address the key “desirements” of the U.S. offshore wind client community based upon VARD’s other recent SOV designs. The HOSSOV™300E will have capacity to accommodate up to 90 or more persons in flotel or offshore wind service mode, with safe, stepless walk-to-work transfer capabilities in up to 2.5m sea states. The SOV will be equipped with an Uptime 30m motion-compensated offshore gangway, a 10-ton 3D-compensated crane, helideck, enclosed warehouse and stepless boat landing. Its existing state-of-the-art diesel-electric powerplant will be enhanced by a 1,500 kW-hour battery hybrid power system, enabling reduced emission during offshore operations and in harbor transit. The SOV accommodations will be constructed to ABS Comfort Class habitability notation standards, and will include a host of onboard amenities typical of a newbuild SOV.
“We are excited to expand our deep experience in walk-to-work and offshore accommodation services with a fully capable SOV for the benefit of the offshore wind community and our offshore petroleum clients. The SOV is a welcomed addition to our high-spec fleet of vessels, as we continue to grow in both our core oilfield and diversified non-oilfield businesses,” said Todd Hornbeck, President and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.