CF Formidable has been delivered and is now underway to her first offshore assignment, where she will support Chevron's operations in Nigeria under an initial charter, with Tschudi Ship Management AS named as ship managers. For us, this is where our part in the story properly begins, but it is worth pausing first to recognize the work of the people who got her there.
From existing hull to modern OSCV
CF Formidable began life as the hull of a vessel built years earlier in Spain. Rather than lay down new steel, Chevalier Floatels BV (CF) took the less conventional route of purchasing that hull and having it towed to the Netherlands, where Holland Shipyards Group completed her at their Hardinxveld facilities to Marin Teknikk's design, with Vera Navis Ship Design of Portugal providing production engineering support.
It was not a straightforward conversion. The vessel had to be reclassed from an originally planned drilling configuration to SPS notation, and built out in full compliance with current newbuilding regulations, all while working from an existing hull rather than a blank sheet. CF has credited the open-book arrangement with the yard, and its own experience from previous vessel conversions, with making that process manageable. It's also a build philosophy with a genuine environmental case: completing an existing hull instead of laying a new one meaningfully reduced the project's carbon footprint.
The result is a 110-metre, DP2 capable offshore construction support vessel with a 22-metre beam, three independent power and thruster redundancy groups (port, center and starboard), five diesel-electric generators and a Kongsberg DP-21 system fed by a genuinely diverse set of position references. She carries 1,200 square meters of 10-tonne-per-square-meter deck, a 150-tonne NOV crane, a 7.2 by 7.2-metre moonpool, and a helideck certified for day and night operations. Accommodation is built to a high standard for 120 people, with an in-house SPS-certified block that CF says can be expanded to over 200 if required — alongside IMO Tier III exhaust treatment and a battery system for peak shaving.
Proving it at sea
In June 2026, CF Formidable completed her sea trials. In the Owner's own words, shared on Linkedin shortly after:
After rigorous testing, CF Formidable has completed its sea trials successfully, making 16.7 knots. She exceeded our expectations. It is always a nerve-wracking experience to have your new vessel go to sea for the first time — but this turned out to be unnecessary.
Chevalier Floatels singled out Holland Shipyards Group and Bakker Sliedrecht for particular credit - the latter having handled the integration and pre-testing of the vessel's onboard systems ahead of trials. Baird Maritime's own reporting corroborates the picture, as did Workboat365: a vessel that stayed comfortable through demanding manoeuvring exercises and came through the programme without major issues, a result the owner attributes to the quality of workmanship across the whole build team.
After trials, CF Formidable returned to the quay for final outfitting and loading of charterer's equipment and deck cargo, followed by deepwater testing of the subsea crane - the last steps before entering service.
Where our part begins
None of the above was ours to claim. The building, the reclassing, the trials - that credit sits with Chevalier Floatels, Holland Shipyards Group, Marin Teknikk, Vera Navis Ship Design, Bakker Sliedrecht and the wider build team, and we are glad to say so plainly.
Tschudi Ship Management AS's management contract for CF Formidable did technically begin before delivery, but that early period was deliberately modest in scope: familiarizing ourselves with the vessel, and building up the spares holding she'll need once she is on project. The substantive part of our work - day-to-day ship management - starts now, as she makes her way to her first assignment.
It's a good vessel to be taking on. High redundancy, strong deck capacity, a proven design pedigree, and an accommodation standard that will make a genuine difference to life on board for her crew.
We are looking forward to the work ahead.
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