The marine engineering company Van Oord has ordered a new cable-laying vessel to assist with the installation of electricity cables for offshore wind farms, particularly the Gemini wind energy project which will be constructed some 60 kilometres to the north of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Dutch Wadden Islands. The vessel will be built at the Damen Shipyards wharf in Romania with completion expected at the end of 2014.
The cable-laying vessel will be deployed at the wind farm site alongside numerous other vessels. The specifications are for a multipurpose vessel with a dead weight of 8,500 tonnes, a length of 120 metres, a beam of 28 metres and a DP2 (Dynamic Positioning) system. It will also be equipped with a cable carousel with a capacity of more than 5,000 tonnes and an offshore crane that will enable it to lay heavy and long export cables.
The vessel will be able to accommodate 90 people and forms part of Van Oord’s strategy, as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, to offer a complete offshore wind construction package to clients.
Van Oord is an international contractor specialising in dredging, marine engineering and offshore construction projects. The company is based in Rotterdam and its expertise ranges from design to execution. It has considerable experience with offshore wind installation projects in the North Sea and employs around 4500 professionals worldwide with a modern fleet of more than a hundred specialist installation vessels and other specialised equipment.
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