St. Johns Ship Building held a keel laying ceremony on January 18th for the second of the series of aluminum crew transfer vessels (CTVs) used to service the offshore wind farm industry. The announcement follows the Jones Act shipyard’s acquisition by Americraft Marine last May. The crew transfer vessels will be servicing U.S. offshore wind projects for construction, operations, and maintenance.
The Chartwell Ambitious aluminum catamarans have the capacity to transport 24 personnel to and from wind turbines with speed, safety, and stability. The vessels were commissioned by the Rhode Island-based Atlantic Wind Transfers (AWT), which participated in the ceremony that continues in the St. Johns’ partnership with AWT to build future-focused vessels.
“We are very pleased to earn the trust of Charles Donadio, Jr. and the teams working with Atlantic Wind Transfers. This keel laying ceremony represents the second Chartwell designed Ambitious now under construction as we work hard to keep facility and infrastructure improvements just ahead of our construction goals,” said Jeff Bukoski, President of St Johns Ship Building, VP of Business Development of Americraft Marine Group. “Our diverse portfolio of projects will continue to support vessels that will help American shift towards energy independence and a cleaner, healthier environment.”
Charles A. Donadio Jr., Founder of AWT, said: “This is another milestone for Atlantic Wind Transfers as we lay the Keel for our second crew transfer vessel at St. John’s as AWT continues to expand its CTV fleet to support offshore wind construction and O&M in the U.S. It was an honor to have representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, FL leading the ceremony with the Keel Stamping of Hull #175 as well as much gratitude to all the SJSB shipyard employees, Americraft Marine Group, Chartwell Marine and all of our vendors that are supporting these vessels through construction and into service for our future clients.” AWT and its team are looking forward to launching these CTVs in the months to come and putting them right to work.”
The Ambitious, Chartwell Marine’s flagship CTV design, will be U.S. Jones Act-compliant, certified under United States Coast Guard (USCG) Subchapter L and able to operate at any offshore wind farm in the U.S. under the safety and inspection standards of the U.S. Coast Guard. AWT currently operates the only two crew transfer vessels in the U.S. under long-term contracts, servicing the Block Island Wind Farm for Orsted and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm (CVOW) for Dominion Energy.
