Wind farm contract awarded

German heavy load specialist, the Schmidbauer Group, has been awarded a contract for handling the heavy load logistics for the Walney Extension offshore wind farm in the UK. The contract has been awarded by Dutch company Van Oord Offshore Wind Projects b.v. - a leading international contractor specialising in dredging, marine engineering and offshore projects (oil, gas and wind). 

Schmidbauer will unload, store and transport 'transition pieces' weighing up to 600 t and 'monopiles' up to 1.030 t at a harbour in Belfast, where parts for up to 87 wind turbines are kept. 

Schmidbauer is primarily using Liebherr LR 11350 (1.350 t capacity) and LR 1350 (350 t capacity) crawler cranes, as well as 56 SPMTs to move the 8.40 metre diameter, 80 metre long monopiles around the port. 

The company says that although the majority of its customers are small to medium-sized German clients, its percentage of international clients is continually rising.