5,000 tonner for Jan De Nul

Huisman will design, engineer, construct and deliver a 5,000 tonne capacity tub mounted crane (TMC) for Les Alizés, Jan De Nul Group’s newest offshore installation vessel.

Les Alizés will be capable of building the latest generation of offshore wind farms and other installations, plus it will be suitable for decommissioning old oil platforms. Offshore wind turbines can now stand more than 270 metres, have blades 120 metres long, and foundations weighing 2,500 tonnes, Jan De Nul said.

Huisman will build the TMC at its facility in Xiamen, China. Installation will be at the China Merchants Industry Holdings Co. Ltd. shipyard, in Haimen, Nantong City, China, where Les Alizés will be built. It is a subsidiary of China Merchants Group with a track record in supplying marine and offshore facilities, Jan De Nul said. Huisman said it will be the largest offshore wind turbine foundation installation crane installed on a monohull vessel. Delivery of the crane is scheduled for 2021 and Les Alizés for the following year.

The 5,000 tonne capacity TMC’s design is similar to the 3,000 tonne leg encircling crane Huisman is building for Jan De Nul’s Voltaire, another new installation vessel. The TMC is designed to allow operations with both main hoist and auxiliary hoist in extreme weather. It will have Huisman’s Dual Main Hoist System for upending large structures. It will also have a segmented slew bearing, electric drive system, an automation package to allow for more efficient operations and preparations for future crane upgrades.

Les Alizés, (which means trade wind in French) will have a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tonnes and a deck area of 9,300 square metres. It is designed for floating installation so it has a dynamic positioning system instead of jack up legs. Alongside Voltaire it will be the first seaworthy installation vessel in the world designated as an Ultra-Low Emission Vessel or ULEv. It will have diesel exhaust emissions to Euro Stage V certification.

Commenting on the order Joop Roodenburg, Huisman president, said, “Huisman is excited to build upon the working relationship with Jan De Nul to deliver an innovative offshore wind installation solution and support the renewable energy industry to build the future wind farms at sea. Huisman is pleased with the confidence shown by Jan De Nul Group with yet another contract in a short period of time: after an award for the contract of the world’s largest monopile gripper in 2018 and the contract for a +3,000 tonne leg encircling crane earlier this year, this contract constitutes the third and largest co-operation with Jan De Nul so far.”

Robby De Backer, Jan De Nul Group director, newbuilding department, said, “Following a successful first campaign with the monopile gripper on the NorthWester II project – the result of our first collaboration – and good progress on the leg encircling crane of Voltaire, we feel confident that Huisman is the right partner to provide us with a third step-changing offshore installation tool. For this tub mounted crane we have carefully selected various innovations, all of which will increase safety, workability and swiftness of the operation. By continuously challenging each other during the procurement phase, Huisman’s and Jan De Nul Group’s engineering teams have come up with a total concept which enables us to provide our clients with unrivalled solutions.”