Toisa Orders Dive Support/Offshore Construction Vessel

IHC Holland Merwede BV subsidiary Merwede Shipyard received a contract for the design and construction of a new Diving Support / Offshore Construction vessel for Bermuda based Toisa Limited. Merwede Shipyard was granted this order because of its ability to design and offer a fixed price for the vessel including the integration of the complete dive spread and cranes within the required short delivery time. The vessel will be built under yard No 712 and will be delivery will take place in the first quarter of 2008.

The vessel will be built in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of Det Norske Veritas, to obtain the following notation: DNV X 1A1, EO, SF, Dynpos, AUTRO, HELDK, DSV-SAT.

The ship has been designed by Merwede Shipyard in close concert with Toisa. It will be a fully Dynamic Positioned Diving Support/Offshore Construction Vessel, suitable for worldwide operation.

As an enhanced sister vessel to the Toisa Proteus, but with a fully inbuilt saturation Diving System, this vessel can, and will, support a wide variety of subsea operations world-wide. Within the saturation diving market, the existing world fleet of such vessels averages over 20 years old. This order will provide the market with a DP3 vessel capable of meeting the higher and more demanding standards in safety, dynamic positioning operations, saturation diving and the use of environmentally sensitive vessels that can only be met by the introduction of new vessels.

The vessel has all the inherent flexibility in design of her previous sisters. The Vessel will be built with a 12 man single bell saturation system. Her under-deck configuration allows for a range of equipment to be installed whilst her large clear deck area provides scope for a range of other applications.

The increasing need for subsea construction vessels to accommodate large numbers of contractor’s personnel has also been addressed in designing the ship to accommodate up to 199 persons (excluding any divers in saturation) depending on the Charterers requirements.