Nordic American Offshore Firms PSV Order With VARD

The 4,000 dwt VARD 1 08 platform supply vessel will measure 81 meters in length and 18 meters wide. Illustration courtesy VARD Holdings

Nordic American Offshore on Monday announced that it has entered into firm agreements to purchase two new Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) from Vard, which will increase the company’s fleet of modern PSVs to a total 10 vessels.

NAO, which was formed in late 2013 as a spinoff from Nordic American Tankers, says the newbuild vessels will be built at Vard Shipbuilding Group’s yard in Aukra, Norway. The vessels will be of a similar design and capabilities as its current fleet and are particularly well suited for operations in the North Sea and in cold climate conditions, NAO said in a press release.

The vessels are scheduled for delivery during the second and third quarter of 2015.

NOA says the delivery of the two newbuildings will increase the company’s fleet to 10 PSVs, up from a fleet of six PSVs when the company first formed in November.

NOA estimates the price of the ships to be about $43 million each.

NAO began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) earlier this month under the symbol “NAO”. The company said it would use the net proceeds from the IPO for vessel acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

Today’s announcement follows a Letter of Intent signed between VARD and NAO in early June for the two vessels.

In total, four newbuildings are scheduled to be delivered to NAO in 2015.