Jan De Nul crew rescues 15 refugees in Mediterranean Sea

Nov. 18, 2022
Jan De Nul Group, a dredging and marine works company, has confirmed that its crew recently rescued 15 refugees at sea.
Offshore staff

Luxembourg  Jan De Nul Group, a dredging and marine works company, has confirmed that its crew recently rescued 15 refugees at sea, according to various news reports.

The firm said During a sea journey from Turkey to Belgium, the company said its crew on board the offshore installation vessel Simon Stevin noticed a sloop with 15 refugees on the evening of Nov. 10. Eight men, two women and five children had been drifting for several days on the Mediterranean Sea, some 75 km off the Algerian coast.

The crew took the refugees on board and, according to Jan De Nul, all 15 were in good health, but weakened and hypothermic. The crew gave them food, drinks, warm clothing, a bed and blankets to recuperate. They spent the night on board and were picked up by the Algerian coastguard on the morning of Nov. 11.

Recent company news

In late October Jan de Nul Group installed power cables for two TenneT wind farms in the Dutch North Sea. The Moonfish inter-tidal trenching vehicle laid the sea cables for Hollandse Kust (north) and the cables for (west Alpha) both on the seabed and at the foot of Heemskerk beach.

In late September Osbit delivered Swordfish, a subsea trenching vehicle, to Jan de Nul for protection of subsea cables for offshore wind developments. Osbit engineers completed detailed design, manufacture, assembly and testing in just over a year, delivering the vehicle from the company’s assembly base at the Port of Blyth in Northumberland. It has since been shipped to Belgium for mobilization and installation.

That same month Jan De Nul’s jackup installation vessel Vole au vent completed installations for the Saint-Nazaire wind farm offshore western France. The vessel transported and installed 80 sets of 6-MW wind turbine generators. The wind farm will have a total capacity of 480 MW.

In February of this year, Jan De Nul Group ordered a hybrid Mariner unmanned surface vehicle from Maritime Robotics. Named Beluga 01, this vessel will sail under the Luxembourg flag and be deployed for worldwide hydrographical and environmental surveys on marine and offshore construction projects.

In January Jan De Nul Group launched the jackup installation vessel Voltaire at the COSCO Shipping shipyard in Nantong, China. The company said it will be the second and largest jackup vessel in the company’s fleet. It is expected to be delivered in second-half 2022.

11.18.2022