One of the first US-flagged, Jones Act compliant offshore wind farm Service
Operation Vessels (SOV) ever ordered will be built to ABS Class. The SOV
will be engineered, constructed and operated by Edison Chouest Offshore
(ECO) for long-term charter to service the planned Revolution
Wind,
South
Fork Wind
and Sunrise
Wind
offshore wind farms in the north-east United States.
The 80-metre-long vessel, which will be capable of housing 70 passengers/wind
turbine technicians, will operate on diesel electric power meeting EPA
Tier 4 emission standards and will feature proprietary ECO Variable Frequency
Drive to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
“ABS’
unique understanding of the U.S. regulatory environment and our industry-leading
offshore experience means we are uniquely well placed to support projects
such as this. We are fully committed to supporting development of the U.S.
offshore wind industry and proud to be part of this initiative, which will
play a key role in delivering its exciting potential,” said Matt Tremblay,
ABS Senior Vice President, Global Offshore.
Gary
Chouest, ECO's President & CEO, said: "We are unique in the
U.S. offshore marine vessel industry with our own in-house design and engineering
group, our own shipyards, and a wealth of expertise in the offshore industry.
This puts us in an industry-leading position as the only U.S. company
capable of fully engineering, constructing and operating specialized vessels
for this market. ECO put the first deep water support vessel in the
Brazil offshore market with the Damon Chouest in 1991. ECO put the
first purpose designed and built deep water support vessel in the Gulf
of Mexico with the Amy Chouest in 1992. And now ECO will again be
first by placing the first SOV in the U.S. windfarm market."
Founded as Edison Chouest Boat Rental in 1960, ECO operates a growing fleet
of almost 300 vessels, up to 525 feet in length. It is one of the largest
providers of US ‘Jones Act’ compliant offshore marine vessels, one of
the largest provider of offshore marine service vessels to Central and
South American markets. The company has a base of shipyards in the US and
owns and manages world-class port terminal facilities and operates worldwide
on all oceans, including the Arctic and Antarctic regions.