VARD, Fincantieri’s subsidiary, signed a new contract for the design and construction of one Service Operation Vessel (SOV) for Ta San Shang Marine Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL) and Ta Tong Marine Co., Ltd. (TTM).

The vessel – the first one to be built for the Asian market – will operate by performing maintenance operations with the Greater Changhua Wind Farms by Ørsted, a Danish Group.

After the contract for a new fish farming unit, earlier in the motnh today’s order is another step of VARD’s diversification strategy as it marks the entrance of the company into the promising sector of renewable energy, according to the company.

The offshore renewables sector is undergoing a geographical expansion phase, becoming a worldwide market after being a mostly European-based industry. VARD has already developed several concepts of these units and will be able to take advantage of the trend of growing initiatives in the renewable energy space, with increasing activity both in Asia and North America as well as the continuing high investments in Europe.