UK marine asset provider Bibby Marine has purchased a new floating accommodation barge named Bibby Pioneer. 

The 2007-built barge will expand their fleet of barges to a total of six and it is the first bought in 15 years since the Bibby Challenge in 2006.

“This is a sizeable investment to our barge fleet. We anticipate Pioneer doing its first charter for us in the coming weeks and can see a good number of opportunities in the coming months,” said Nigel Quinn, CEO of Bibby Marine.

The barge, formerly known as ASV Pioneer, was converted in 2011 to include accommodation and equipment, so it became self-sufficient. It has recently been used for laying and maintaining power cables in the North Sea, and it was also involved in the Costa Concordia salvage in 2014.

Bibby Marine said it plans to build additional accommodation on the remaining flat deck to increase the accommodation space to approximately 200 people.