Offshore staff
ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands — The Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore shipyard in China has launched the new Van Oord jackup vessel Boreas designed for transport and installation of next generation foundations and turbines for offshore wind farms.
It should be ready for commercial operations in 2025.
Boreas will be the largest vessel of its kind, Van Oord claims. Due to its size, launching involved skidding from the construction site to the quay, a load-out method for horizontal transport of heavy and oversized objects along a linear track.
From the quay, the vessel was skidded onto two pontoons, which were later submerged in a controlled operation, after which the Boreas was afloat.
Works will continue with installation of the main crane and the extension of the jackup legs. Following further commissioning, sea trials will take place after which the shipyard will hand Boreas over to Van Oord.
The vessel is 175 m long and its crane, featuring a 155-m-high boom, can lift loads of more than 3,000 metric tons.
Its four legs, each 126 m tall, will allow the vessel to be jacked up for work in waters depths up to 70 m, sufficient to install next-generation 20-MW offshore wind turbines at sea.
Boreas is also designed to run in the future on methanol, and it will be equipped with selective catalytic reduction technology to limit NOx emissions. Its 6-MWh battery pack can accommodate peak loads and regenerate energy to reduce fuel consumption and associated emissions further, Van Oord added.
05.14.2024
