A ground-breaking new vessel designed specifically for the offshore wind market has officially been launched in Lowestoft.
North Star's new hybrid powered daughter craft will support the safe transfer of wind-farm technicians between the service operations vessel, where they live while working offshore, to the wind turbines for routine or remedial maintenance, as well as for trips to and from shore for deliveries.
The vessel was christened Grace Darling at a naming ceremony at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, next to the firm's regional operations hub.
It has been named in honour of a famous lighthouse keeper's daughter, from the north-east of England, who risked her life in 1838 to save the stranded survivors of a wrecked merchant ship travelling from Hull to Dundee.
The Grace Darling is the first of four hybrid craft being built, with the naming ceremony attended by a number of the UK's leading offshore wind developers.
Matthew Gordon, North Star CEO said: “We are very pleased to have officially launched the Grace Darling and bring the world's first offshore wind hybrid propulsion daughter craft to market.
"There is a long history of iconic women hailing from the north-east, and we wanted to enhance their legacy by naming our new green fleet in their memory.
“Our unique model has been purpose designed and built under North Star’s guidance to deliver high performance and quality client service logistics after our extensive market research revealed that no existing model came close to what we want to achieve.
"The Grace Darling is the first of our next generation and new breed of sustainable, reliable, comfortable fleet that will deliver substantial value and efficiencies to our wind farm clients.
"We are 100pc committed to investing in the local supply chain where possible to help drive forward our continued growth in the UK and European offshore wind markets.”
The company, which has locations in Lowestoft, Newcastle and Aberdeen, employs over 1,300 workers, including 100 deck and engineering cadets enrolled in its three-year training programme, now in its 26th year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here