Windcat Workboats and Eneco have signed a partnership and 5 year charter agreement. This long-term charter will allow the safe transport of technicians to offshore wind farms and will also allow the companies to work together on decarbonisation of Eneco’s marine logistics using Windcat’s hydrogen dual fuel solutions.
The fuel-efficient Windcat 32 is the first vessel to be used for this charter. It started operation this month. The vessel will be customised to Eneco’s needs, amongst others by the installation of an IMO Tier III engine. This engine uses a SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system which radically reduces NOx emissions. The vessel will operate from IJmuiden and provide access to Eneco’s offshore wind farms: Prinses Amalia Windpark, Luchterduinen and Hollandse Kust Noord.
Going forward, the use of hydrogen will be further explored for further reduction of emissions from crew transfer vessels.
Managing Director, Willem van der Wel: “With the Hydrocat 48, we invested heavily in emission reduction by using a dual fuel hydrogen engine, one of the reasons Eneco wanted to partner with us. Windcat looks forward to this collaboration that will ensure the decarbonisation of Eneco’s logistics. We will continue to work on developing the customised service that meets Eneco’s needs.”
Lead Asset Manager Offshore Wind, Renzo Schildmeijer: “We are pleased to further deepen and strengthen our relationship with Windcat with this new contract. Both companies share many core values and future goals. Windcat will be an important partner in decarbonizing our offshore logistics and delivering on our ambition becoming climate neutral in 2035.”
Guaranteed uptime
Windcat offers in-house developed vessels with a full support service. The engineering support teams are experienced and prepared so that a quick response is guaranteed. Windcat has a large pool of critical spare parts stored in strategic locations, including its largest warehouse in IJmuiden, giving them full control over spare parts themselves. These support systems are therefore a unique service and are located in multiple sites around Europe. Windcat also just obtained a DNV management system certificate which demonstrates Windcat’s effective management system processes, commitment to continual improvement and development towards more sustainable business functions.
Future partnership
The partnership allows for additional vessels to be used, to further support the existing projects and also new offshore wind farm projects that Eneco will be part of. Source: Windcat
