Sietas is to be the first German shipyard to develop and build a jack-up vessel used for offshore wind farm installation. The order, which was signed today in Hamburg, comes from prestigious Dutch-based marine contractor Van Oord, working on dredging, offshore and marine engineering projects worldwide.

In addition, Van Oord has placed an option for a second ship of the same type. No details have been released as to the purchase price. The time elapsing between development and delivery to Van Oord, in September 2012, of this innovative jack-up vessel will be just 21 months. The construction phase is scheduled to last one year.