Original news was published on 15 August, 2014

COSCO (Dalian) shipyard is to build four subsea support vessels for Maersk Supply Service with options for two additional ships that are all of the Marin Teknikk design.

Maersk Supply Service, a provider of marine services to the oil and gas industry, already has one subsea supply vessel and two anchor handling tugs on order from shipyards in Rumania and Chile, a company statement said.

"With this new order in China, we have taken the next step in our extensive new building programme. We are reshaping our fleet to focus primarily on anchor handling tug supply vessels and subsea support vessels.

"In a long-term perspective we see great potential in these segments," said Maersk Supply Service CEO Carsten Plougmann Andersen.

The 8,000-ton vessels are 137 metres long and equipped with a crane that is rated for operations in waters up to 3,000 metres deep. Delivery of the first vessels is expected in the fourth quarter of 2016.

*NEWS SOURCE