Norway's Vard to build in Romania the hull of EUR 123 mln ship designed by Rolls-Royce

Norwegian ship builder Vard Holdings, owned by Italian group Ficantieri, recently landed a EUR 123 million contract to build a large size offshore support vessel for Island Offshore, whose hull will be built at the Vard Tulcea shipyard in Romania. The ship will be designed by Rolls-Royce, and the deadline for building it is 2016, according to an announcement from the Norwegian company. The hull in Romania will be transported to Norway, and then the whole ship will be delivered from Vard Brevik in Norway in the second quarter of 2016. Vard has delivered more than 30 vessels to Island Offshore in the past, in addition to five vessels currently under construction. Vard Holdings, which has 10,000 employees, runs 10 shipyards, five of which in Norway, two in Romania, two in Brazil, and one in Vietnam. In Romania, its shipyards are in Tulcea and Braila, where the company employs 5,000. Its parent company Ficantieri, which owns 55.6 percent in Vard, is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and has, and has built more than 7,000 vessels in its 200 years of activity. editor@romania-insider.com