Louis Dreyfus Armateurs picks ZPMC for SOV newbuild series

France’s Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has selected Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) to build its latest series of service operation vessels (SOV) that will be deployed on offshore wind sites in the German North Sea.

Earlier this year the French family-owned shipowner emerged as a winner of a $575m SOV tender issued by Sweden’s biggest utility, Vattenfall, for the wind farms DanTysk and Sandbank and the Nordlicht wind farm zone, plus an option for a third vessel.

Under the contract with Vattenfall, LDA will build, own, and operate two firm SOVs, with the first unit set to enter service in mid-2027, while the second unit will commence operations before the end of the same year. The third, optional SOV is intended for future projects in the North Sea.

The newbuilds, designed by Norway’s Salt Ship Design, will be registered under the French flag and integrate high-end European components, including the gangway system, the DP system and key propulsion line systems, LDA said.

The company’s current SOV fleet includes the 2019-built Wind of Change and the 2021-built Wind of Hope, delivered into contract for Danish utility Ørsted for the maintenance of offshore wind farms in Germany and the UK, as well as one SOV walk-to-work vessel, the Wind of Pride, acquired in 2019.