NYK Line placed an order with Kosaba Shipbuilding Corporation for a crew transfer vessel (CTV), the first CTV for NYK to order from a Japanese shipyard.
Following delivery in late 2025 or 2026, the vessel will be used to transport technicians to construct and maintain offshore wind power generation facilities off Japan.
The vessel will be 28 meters long, and capable of accommodating 12 persons.
The vessel will be the third CTV owned by NYK. In Japan, the vessel will be the second NYK-owned CTV, following Rera As, which was delivered in April 2023 and is engaged in the Ishikari Bay New Port offshore wind farm off Hokkaido, Japan.
NYK claims that it will place more CTV orders with shipyards in Japan.
A CTV engaged in maintaining offshore wind power facilities in Japan for an extended period requires a high transfer capacity.
In constructing the vessel, NYK will domestically produce the hull form based on a design from Northern Offshore Service in Sweden, aiming to make it the core hull form of NYK.
Northern Offshore Service is one of the largest CTV operators in Europe and a subsidiary of Northern Offshore Group AB, which operates in the European region, with which NYK formed a partnership in 2020.
In Japan, the construction of offshore wind power facilities is expected to begin in earnest around 2026, and demand for CTVs is expected to grow.
As stated in the NYK medium-term management plan announced in March 2023, the company plans to invest 43 billion yen in the offshore wind power value chain by fiscal 2026, and the construction of this vessel is part of that plan.
