Vroon’s Singapore-managed AHTS (anchor-handling tug supply) vessel VOS Champion has started a five-month contract with a major international Oil and Gas EPCI (engineering, procurement, construction and installation) contractor. This is Vroon's first contract with the charterers for some time and the Company very much welcome the opportunity to join forces with them again.
VOS Champion was delivered to her new charterers in early November and immediately mobilised to Sandakan, Malaysia. Upon arrival, the first task was to connect her towing wire to Coastal Contracts Bhd’s Accommodation Work Barge (AWB) Asia Pride 39308 (AP39308) that is currently managed by Horizon Ship Management. Both units will form part of a marine spread supporting the charterers’ deepwater development and offshore brownfield modification project off the East Coast of India. Operating from the port of Kakinada, VOS Champion’s primary duty will be to tow, run anchors and provide support to the AWB.
VOS Champion will initially tow AP39308 to Batam, Indonesia. Here, she will load cargo and assist the AWB in conducting mooring trials, before commencing a tow to the area of operations off the Indian coast.
VOS Champion is a KCM 65m 6,500 BHP AHTS vessel, operated and managed by VOS Singapore. Delivered to Vroon in 2016, she is one of a series of six such vessels specially designed for the company by Khiam Chuan Marine, in close collaboration with Vroon’s Performance and Engineering Department, and constructed at Fujian Southeast Shipyard in Fuzhou, China.
VOS Champion is equipped with DP2 capabilities, 425m2 clear deck area and anchor-handling/towing winches of 1,500m x 64mm. The vessel is SPS2008-compliant, comes with super-silent bow thrusters and an optimised hull design for improved fuel efficiency. She boasts 39 beds for crew and personnel, with impressive noise and vibration insulation levels ensuring on-board comfort.
Earlier this year the vessel, while under charter with Chevron, she was awarded Chevron’s Near-Miss Reporting Award for February 2019, witness to Vroon positive safety culture and the crew’s professional conduct.
The firm period of the current contract will last until March 2020.
“We are confident that these offshore operations will proceed safely and efficiently for all parties involved and we wish the vessels and crews “fair winds and following seas”.
Source: Vroon