A fleet built for offshore wind
Norwind Offshore was founded in Ålesund in 2021, specialising in service vessels for offshore wind.
The first vessel entered service in 2022. Since then the company has taken delivery of a series of purpose-built CSOVs developed with VARD, and in 2026 doubled its fleet through the acquisition of six vessels from Edda Wind.
The vessels support the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms around the world, with the company's own marine crew working alongside clients onboard. The vessels have accommodation capacity for up to 120 persons.
Photo: Norwind Offshore.
A three-year agreement across the fleet
In February 2026, Norwind Offshore signed a three-year agreement with Shipmate covering the fleet and shore organisation.
The agreement covers internal communication, information flow and collaboration between vessels and shore, and marked an important step for Shipmate into offshore and offshore wind.
The agreement was signed two months before the fleet doubled. When the six new vessels came in, the way of communicating between shore and vessels was already in place, and the new crews joined it.
– We need digital tools that fit our operations, and that ensure good communication, information flow and more efficient onboarding for each employee. Shipmate gives us a solution that is easy to adopt and that supports the way we want to work, both on board and ashore, says Roy Ove Standal, COO at Norwind Offshore.
Reach everyone, or exactly the right people
Communication is at the centre of how Norwind uses Shipmate. From shore, they can send a message to the entire organisation, one vessel or a specific group of people.
None of these groups are maintained in Shipmate.
Norwind uses OCS HR from Mintra for employee data, crewing, rotation and competence management. Shipmate synchronises the relevant information from OCS HR, so it knows who belongs to which vessel and which position.
If Norwind needs to reach every captain in the company, they select the captains. If a message is only relevant to the people currently assigned to Norwind Storm, they select the vessel.
When crew assignments change in OCS HR, the recipients in Shipmate change with them.
– It has made my day simpler. I choose who a message is for, and I can trust that it lands with the people on board right now, says Anna Furnes, Operations Coordinator at Norwind Offshore.
Photo: Norwind Offshore.
One place for company-wide information
Not every message is operational or urgent.
Norwind also uses Shipmate for internal news, new contracts and company announcements. Instead of relying on email chains or separate group chats, the information is available to employees in the same app they already use for communication.
«We are growing fast, and it matters that everyone feels part of the same company, not just their own vessel. Now news and announcements reach everyone at the same time, in one place that is ours.»
Roy Ove Standal, COO, Norwind Offshore
Built together with the people who use it
The three-year agreement also provides for close collaboration on the further development of Shipmate.
Norwind brings operational experience into that work. With crews, technicians and shore personnel spread across a growing fleet, they run into communication needs that few maritime organisations see at the same scale.
That feedback shapes how Shipmate develops: real situations first, then functionality that other maritime organisations can use for the same problems.