Blue Fighter (Esvagt Leah)

Ship history

The ship investment company Blue Ship Invest (BSI), a part of Ulstein Group, ordered ten platform supply vessels of the PX121 design in the period 2010-2014. Eight were acquired by Nordic American Offshore (NAO). These have later been sold to various ship owners.

'Blue Fighter' was contracted in 2010, and delivered to BSI on 19 January 2012. She was named at Ulstein Verft by lady sponsor Kathrine Gåsvik Ulstein. After only days of operation in the spot market, ‘Blue Fighter’ entered a one-year contract, with an option for an additional year, with the American oil company Apache for work in the North Sea. Remøy Shipping had the technical and commercial management of the vessel. The vessel's first Captain, Inge Gjelsten, had mastered several newbuilds before but stated that:

"A vessel of this type is my preferred choice for the North Sea. It is remarkably efficient and comfortable in all weather conditions. Wind and seas have little impact on the vessel’s performance compared to conventional PSVs. We can compare performance directly when steaming on the same tracks to the oil fields: With the same weather conditions and 3-5 metres head sea within 30 degrees of the bow, our ship can easily and comfortably maintain a speed of 12-13 knots, while the other vessels have to reduce their speed to 7-8 knots. The higher speed is a result of the ‘X-BOW® effect’. Also, due to the position of the stabilisation tanks on board, ‘Blue Fighter’ operates extremely well when wind and seas approach from the side.”

Ulstein’s decision to focus on this ship type resulted from careful market analysis. The vessels have an optimum combination of fuel efficiency and deadweight, and a capacity and performance that approaches those of larger PSVs. They can take on most of the tasks usually handled by slightly larger PSVs but at a lower operating cost.

2013: The first six vessels were acquired by Nordic American Offshore (NAO) on 1 November 2013. Blue Fighter was renamed NAO Fighter.
2015: Two more vessels of the same design, Blue Storm and Blue Viking were acquired by Nordic American Offshore (NAO) on 26 January 2015.
2015-2016: The final two of the ten vessels, Blue Queen and Blue King, were delivered to Blue Ship Invest.
2019: Nordic American Offshore changed its name to Hermitage Offshore Services Ltd, which became effective on June 4, 2019. All the vessels changed their names to "Hermit" prefix.
2020: All vessels in the Hermitage Offshore fleet were acquired by Pearl Bidco AS, a company owned by DNB and SEB.
2021: Hermit Fighter (now: ESVAGT LEAH) was acquired by ESVAGT, and has been converted to an Emergency Response Rescue Vessel (ERRV) at Ulstein Verft and prepared for battery power by Ulstein Power & Control.

Overview of all the ten Blue Ship Invest vessels:

Yno 291 ESVAGT LEAH - delivered January 19, 2012, original name Blue Fighter.
Yno 294 ESVAGT HEIDI - delivered on September 6, 2012, original name Blue Prosper.
Yno 296 Hermit Thunder - delivered May 13, 2013, original name Blue Thunder.
Yno 297 Aurora Power - Delivered on March 6, 2013, original name Blue Power.
Yno 298 Delta Atlas - delivered June 28, 2013, original name Blue Guardian.
Yno 299 Aurora Protector - delivered September 23, 2013, original name Blue Protector.
Yno 303 Aurora Storm - Delivered January 19, 2015, original name Blue Storm.
Yno 304 Koenigsborg - Delivered January 19, 2015, original name Blue Viking.
Yno 305 Kasteelborg - Delivered February 24, 2015, original name Blue Queen.
Yno 306 Farland - Delivered May 12, 2016, original name Blue King.