TRIESTE – VARD, a company controlled by Fincantieri, has launched the Windward Hamburg at the Vung Tau shipyard in Vietnam, a new Commissioning Service Operation Vessel (CSOV) for Windward Offshore GmbH & Co. KG.
The vessel is based on the VARD 4 19 design, a platform developed by Vard Design in Ålesund, Norway, optimised for low fuel consumption and high manoeuvrability in station-keeping, the ability to maintain position with precision even in the presence of wind and currents. With a length of 87.5 metres and a beam of 19.5 metres, it can accommodate up to 120 people on board and is equipped with hybrid battery propulsion with green methanol-ready capability.
CSOVs are new-generation offshore vessels, designed to support offshore wind farms. They are logistics and operational bases capable of safely transferring technicians and equipment to turbines even in difficult weather conditions, thanks to motion-compensated gangway systems, automatically stabilised against wave motion, and 3D cranes that neutralise oscillations during lifting operations.
Windward Offshore, a Hamburg-based joint venture led by the SeaRenergy group in collaboration with Blue Star Group, Diana Shipping and SeraVerse, has ordered a total of four CSOVs in the same series.
The first, Windward Athens, was delivered in September 2025 and immediately entered operation on charter for RWE Offshore Wind through North Star. The second, Windward Paris, was delivered in February 2026, also intended to support the construction of an offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. Both were built at Vard’s shipyards in Romania and delivered in Brattvaag, Norway.
The two remaining units, the Windward Munich and the recently launched Hamburg, were entirely built and delivered at the Vung Tau shipyard, operational since 2008 and officially inaugurated in 2010, which completed a major expansion in 2024, increasing production capacity by 75%: from 4 to 7 units a year.
The launch comes at a time of expansion for VARD. Last August, the group signed a contract with North Star, the leading UK shipowner, for the design and construction of two additional hybrid Service Operation Vessels (SOVs), also based on the VARD 4 19 design. The first will be built in Romania, with delivery in the fourth quarter of 2027; the second entirely in Vung Tau, with delivery in the fourth quarter of 2028. According to the group’s internal classification, the value of the agreement is between 100 and 200 million euros. The contract covers the ninth and tenth units commissioned by North Star from VARD.