COSCO secures order for 2 semi-submersible accommodation vessels

2013-11-26 00:00

On July 7 (local time), Norway's Prosafe announced that it had signed a letter of intent (LOI) with COSCO (Qidong) Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. (Qidong COSCO Offshore), a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipbuilding Group Co., Ltd., for the engineering, procurement, and construction of two state-of-the-art semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company later announced on the 22nd that it had finalized a turnkey contract with Qidong COSCO Offshore.

The contract includes an option for four additional vessels, with each vessel costing over US\$200 million. These DP3 semi-submersible accommodation vessels, to be named "Safe Notos" and "Safe Eurus," will be built based on Gusto MSC's "Ocean 500" design. Each vessel will accommodate approximately 500 people and feature a 300-ton crane.

Prosafe plans to finance the contract through operating cash flow, existing financing, and new loan facilities.