Following alterations to the bow and accommodation at the Den Breejen shipyard in Hardinxveld-Giessendam, the re-vamped Crew Transfer Vessel “Offshore Wenduine” was renamed at a ceremony at the Koninklijke Roei en Zeilvereeniging “De Maas” in Rotterdam on Wednesday.
Related: The Netherlands: Offshore Wenduine Converts into Multi-Purpose Catamaran Work Boat
The Champagne bottle was released onto the bow by Mevr Hudig, the wife of Workship Contractors Director, Dhr. Jan Dirk Hudig. OW3 is owned by Offshore Wind Services B.V. and managed by Worships Contractors B.V., a company with its headquarters in Rotterdam. She is one of their ten crew transfer vessels of the offshore wind fleet.
The vessel had been built in 1999Singapore for work in Hong Kong as a rescue/ recovery vessel for a Hong Kong ferry company, but as Dhr. Hudig quipped “it was never used and had remained in the garage until now”. After hearing about the vessel it was shipped over to Rotterdam by a heavy lift vessel in February.
By the end of February the vessel was made available to assist in the testing of the Amplemann L-type access system.
In her speech Mevr Hudig spoke of the rite where, according to legend, each and every vessel had their previous name and records deleted by Poseidon from the Ledger of the Deep prior to being renamed. When Poseidon had duly deleted the records, and the guests at the event had toasted with Champagne the newly named vessel was given a wet christening by a Port of Rotterdam Authority fire boat.
Guests were also treated to a short cruise on Rotterdam’s River Maas on board the sister vessel in the Workships’ fleet, “Offshore Wanelaar”. Both vessels left Rotterdam the following morning bound for Grimsby where they were due to start work on offshore wind operations.
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Press release, June 3, 2013