Rolls-Royce wins major ship contracts

Rolls-Royce has been awarded contracts worth around £45m for six platform supply vessels (PSV), including the first offshore orders from Chile.

CBO (Companhia Brasileira de Offshore) has ordered four UT-Design type UT 715 L offshore supply vessel design and equipment packages. The 3,000 tonne deadweight PSVs are to be built by Allianca shipyard near Rio de Janeiro for delivery in 2009 and 2010. The vessels will go straight into long-term charters with the Brazilian state oil company, Petrobras.

The other UT-Design contract is from the Chilean shipyard Asnavales (Astilleros y Servicios Navales), which is to build two UT 745 CD (clean design) supply vessels for an international shipowner. These large PSVs mark the first time that offshore service vessels using designs and equipment from Rolls-Royce have been built in Chile.

Jørn Heltne, Vice President for Ship Technology – Offshore in Rolls-Royce, said: ‘At the end of the 1990s, CBO was the first Brazilian shipowner to have offshore service vessels built in Brazil, after 20 years with little shipbuilding activity there. Since then, CBO has built a range of our designs, including the type UT 715 L similar to the vessels that have now been ordered.'