Statoil Boosts Dudgeon Fleet

Stokesley-based MPI Workboats has been awarded two long-term contracts with Statoil under which MPI Napoleon and MPI Snowball will be providing crew-transfer support on the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm. 

MPI Napoleon has already commenced her 18-month contract earlier this month, while MPI Snowball will start a three-year charter later in 2016. The contracts were signed in Bergen, Norway, last month.

The Dudgeon offshore wind farm is a GBP 1.5 billion project that will harness offshore wind to power more than 410,000 UK homes. The wind farm, located some 32 kilometres off the North Norfolk coast, will be developed and operated by Statoil and should start generating electricity in early 2017.

The newest additions to the MPI Workboats’ fleet, the BV-Class 22m vessels MPI Snowball and MPI Napoleon were designed by BMT/Nigel Gee and built at the South East Asia Shipyard (SEAS) in Vietnam. They were delivered to MPI Workboats in February 2014.

The aluminium catamarans are equipped with 2 x MAN engines and hydrojets, equating to a vessel speed of up to 25 knots, and can transport up to 12 passengers, 3 crew and two 10-foot containers.

Last week, Statoil signed a contract with Rix Sea Shuttle for the supply of two crew transfer vessels to the Dudgeon OWF.