European design for Chinese offshore vessels

China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL) has contracted Wärtsilä, a solutions and services provider for the marine industry based in Finland, to supply designs for six new ships.

Wärtsilä will design two Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) and four Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels, which are being built to initially provide support operations in the South China Sea and Bohai Bay for COSL.

The PSVs are based on Wärtsilä Ship Design's VS 485 PSV MKIII design, which has been engineered for high energy and environmental efficiency.

The AHTS vessels are to be constructed according to the Wärtsilä Ship Design VS 4612 AHTS design, with the focus on providing reliability and high levels of efficiency for operations in challenging sea and weather conditions.

"We have enjoyed many years of close co-operation with both COSL and its parent company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and they are very familiar with Wärtsilä's broad range of solutions, including our ship designs, propulsion machinery, automation and control systems, and our environmental compliance solutions”, said Riku-Pekka Hägg, Vice President, Wärtsilä Ship Design. “Our values are also very much aligned, with both companies emphasising total lifecycle costs, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability.”