The 66-metre offshore rescue vessel Ocean Falcon, formerly known as Project UFO, is now based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where she is looking for a new owner with Northrop & Johnson. Things are looking up for the project, with the brokerage confirming that several bids from "leading shipyards" are already in place.
In August 2024, it was announced that Ocean Falcon would no longer undergo its conversion at Lürssen. The vessel arrived at the shipyard's facilities in Bremen, Germany in September 2022, where she was set to receive a four-metre extension and be converted into an explorer yacht for charter.
"The combined UFO-Lürssen teams have been diligently revising and evaluating the feasibility of the conversion of the Offshore and Rescue vessel Ocean Falcon as initially designed," read a statement from Lürssen.
It continued: "After a thorough review, the Lürssen engineering team identified a number of challenges that make it difficult to fully meet the expectations of all parties involved. Therefore, the project decided to leave the Lürssen shipyard."
Lürssen is the second shipyard that has accepted but ultimately not gone through with Ocean Falcon's conversion. The first was Icon Yachts, who announced its plans to take on the rebuild at the 2022 Monaco Yacht Show. The project initially had Murray & Associates on exterior design and interiors from British studio H2 Yacht Design.
Original plans for the conversion project indicated a high-volume interior with room for four tenders, a submarine, a 10-metre swimming pool and two fully certified helicopter landing pads with an accompanying helicopter hanger. In addition, guests would have access to an expedition preparation room and a separate diving centre. Key specs include a volume of 2,950GT and a top speed of 15 knots.
Alberto Perrone, director of yacht services at Lürssen had previously stated: "Ocean Falcon is not a yacht in the traditional sense, but neither is it an explorer or support vessel. The best way to describe this new type of vessel is as a 'Pick-Up Truck' on the water."
Ocean Falcon is asking €14,950,000 with Northrop & Johnson.