Rix Sea Shuttle has won two contracts from engineering giant Siemens. The Rix Lion — the Hull-based company’s newest and largest vessel — has been employed by Siemens to carry out lube oil changes on the gearboxes at the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms off the south Lincolnshire coast.

Another Rix Sea Shuttle craft, the Rix Cheetah, will take engineers to and from turbines at the Walney 2 wind farm off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, as part of a three-month extendable contract with the German group.

The contracts with Siemens mean that all the vessels in Rix Sea Shuttle’s fleet are working at wind farms off the British coastline for the first time. The Rix Panther and the Rix Tiger are currently supporting two cable-laying ships at the RWE Innogy Gwynt y Mor development, off the North Wales coast.

Managing director James Doyle said: “Siemens is a byword for the renewables industry in the Humber region, so to land these contracts with the company is a real source of
pride for Rix Sea Shuttle. The Lynn and Inner Dowsing work entirely vindicates our decision to invest in a larger vessel that is more versatile than most of the other boats working in the renewables industry.

“The extra deck space means it can carry men, large pieces of equipment and even two ISO containers if necessary — a feature that makes it attractive to Siemens and
other manufacturers of wind turbines.”