MPI History

Last Updated: Tuesday 11 May 2010

By the millennium it was recognized that if renewable targets were to be met globally then the offshore wind industry would have to make a significant contribution to these targets.

As far back as 1999 concepts were being evaluated to find the best solution for installing offshore wind projects on a large scale. The original team who worked on this project still think that that a transport and installation solution is the way forward, hence the name TIV which stands for Transport and Installation Vessel.

The MPI Resolution was designed and constructed as a TIV, starting February 2001, leaving the Chinese shipyard in October 2003 and being ready for service in European waters in early 2004.

Costing approx $75m to build, MPI Resolution honours the memory of Captain James Cook, a world-renowned explorer and an innovative navigator. Cook was born and grew up locally and sailed on his world voyages from the port of Whitby, which lies a few miles south of Middlesbrough. He was Master of the Resolution on his second expedition in search of the 'Southern Land', south of the Cape towards the South Pole.

On the 31st of March 2006 the MPI Resolution and associated equipment became a part of a Company jointly owned by the Vroon Group BV and the original management team.

MPI Resolution has performed so well that the decision to order two further vessels was made in 2008, with deliveries scheduled for 2010 and 2011. The names of these vessels again carry Cooks Commissions, namely Adventure and Discovery.

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