(PALATKA, Fla.) — A keel-laying ceremony was held Tuesday at St. Johns Ship Building for Hull 170, the second Incat Crowther 30 crew transfer vessel (CTV) to be built in compliance with Jones Act regulations in the United States.
Owner’s representatives from Windea CTV LLC were in attendance, a partnership of Hornblower Wind LLC (a member of Hornblower Group) and MidOcean Wind, which will be operating multiple vessels in the support of offshore wind development in the United States. This first series of vessels under construction at St. Johns Ship Building will go directly into service in support of the Vineyard Wind 1 construction project located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
“We are pleased to reach the point of our second Windea keel laying. Our team will continue (St. Johns’) crew transfer vessel construction program in covered work areas with the direct support of Incat and the oversight by Hornblower,” said Jeff Bukoski, president of St. Johns Ship Building. “We remain focused on infrastructure improvements that will contribute to the quality and efficiency of our aluminum and steel vessel programs required to support offshore wind developments.”
The construction of this series of Incat-designed vessels also signals the official launch of St. Johns Ship Building’s new focus on dedicated high-speed aluminum vessel production. The groundwork for this focus on supporting the construction of Jones Act-compliant CTVs was laid more than two years ago with multiple facility modifications and the acquisition of new production equipment, including a computer numerical control (CNC) router for processing of non-ferrous metals and composite materials.
– St. Johns Ship Building
