Jacking News

The United States' first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), Charybdis, was launched into the water at the Seatrium AmFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas.The 472-foot WTIV—the first and only to be constructed in the U.S.—is being built for Blue Ocean Energy Marine, a subsidiary of Dominion Energy, who announced the milestone on Monday. Welding of the ship's hull and commissioning of the vessel's four legs and related jacking system has been completed…

Cosco Shipyard in China has launched Cadeler’s newbuild vessel Wind Peak, designed to be able to transport and install up to seven complete 15 MW offshore wind turbine sets per load.The launching of Wind Peak is a critical milestone that marks the completion of the vessel’s hull, Cadeler said.Leading up to the launch is two years of intricate engineering and 18 months of construction of the P-class vessel.After the launching, the jacking legs and cranes will be installed onboard alongside various technical installations…

Offshore wind turbines are reaching new heights both literally (meters), and figuratively (megawatts). As the demand for larger turbines surges, so do the challenges faced by offshore installation contractors, which need to come up with bigger vessels, and, consequentially, bigger cranes for those vessels.When I took on the assignment to produce a piece focusing on heavy-lifting cranes and deck machinery for OE, I immediately thought of Huisman as a company best suited for coverage in this space…

NOV has signed a new contract with China's CIMC Raffles to supply another GustoMSC™ NG-20000X self-propelled wind turbine installation jack-up vessel design for Havfram, an offshore wind services company based in Norway, which recently ordered its second wind turbine installation vessel from CIMC.According to NOV, the NG-20000X-HF vessels are among the largest wind installation jack-ups in the industry. They feature a 3,250-ton heavy lift crane and can install foundations up to 3,000 tons and wind turbines with tip heights over 300 m in water depths up to 70 m.

WTIVs have always been fuel-hungry. Now they are being tasked with installations that are further, deeper and heavier.Offshore wind farms continue their march into deeper water, further from shore, with turbines that can now reach more than 270 meters high with blades 120 meters long. Designers and OEMs are pushing efficiency to new levels to contain OPEX on the new-generation jack-up WTIVs taking them up there.Danish ship design firm Knud E. Hansen has chosen specialization for its Atlas A-class WTIV, a smaller derivation of its massive C-class design.

The Great Lakes' 2023 shipping season will commence on March 25 with the opening of the Poe Lock at 12:01 a.m., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District announced.The operating season is fixed by federal regulation and driven in part by the feasibility of vessels operating in typical Great Lakes ice conditions.The Poe Lock closed January 16 to undergo critical repairs and maintenance during the 10 week-long winter shutdown. Maintenance crews performed a variety of critical tasks on the Poe Lock…

Liebherr Container Cranes completed its first ship to shore lift height increase with their new patented jacking system as part of Liebherr Transform. The operation was conducted under the supervision of Liebherr engineers at Patrick Terminals – Brisbane Autostrad.Patrick Terminals – Brisbane Autostrad located on the eastern coast of Australia is one of the world’s most advanced container terminals. Liebherr have two ship to shore container cranes at the terminal, a new STS currently being commissioned and an STS supplied in 2015.

NOV has signed contracts with CIMC Raffles to supply a GustoMSC NG-20000X self-propelled wind turbine installation jack-up vessel design for Havfram, an offshore wind services company based in Norway. The NG-20000X-HF vessel will be among the largest wind installation jack-ups in the industry. It features a 3,250-ton heavy lift crane and can install foundations up to 3,000 tons and wind turbines with tip heights over 300 m in water depths up to 70 m.

NOV has secured contracts to deliver design and equipment for Danish offshore wind installation firm Cadeler's second F-class jack-up vessel, which will be able to install large wind turbine foundations as well as wind turbines. The F-class is a bespoke version of the GustoMSC NG-20000X model, specially designed as a hybrid wind turbine and foundation installation jack-up vessel.This will be Cadeler's fourth GustoMSC-designed jack-up vessel being built at COSCO Heavy Industries.

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has been chosen to supply two auxiliary offshore telescopic cranes for Van Oord’s new generation wind turbine installation vessel. The new vessel will mainly operate to support European wind farms.The vessel is being built by Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Ltd, and is a new generation of wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV). The 175-meter offshore installation vessel will be purpose-built for the transport and installation of foundations and turbines at offshore wind farms. The main crane lifting capacity is more than 3,000 tonnes.

Danish offshore services company Maersk Supply Service has won its second offshore wind installation contract in the U.S. The company, best known for its offshore support vessels, in March ordered a wind turbine installation vessel, and won its first contract with Equinor and BP to install turbines at the Empire Wind project in the U.S.Now, Maersk Supply Service has won a deal to install the wind turbines at the Beacon Wind farm off the U.S. East Coast, also for a joint venture between Equinor and BP. The installation of Beacon Wind is expected to start in 2028.

NOV confirmed Tuesday it has won contracts for the equipment and design of offshore wind installation firm Cadeler's first F-class jack-up vessel. The recently ordered F-class jack-up, is a custom version of the GustoMSC NG-20000X model designed as a hybrid wind turbine and foundation installation jack-up vessel. In addition to the first two X-class units, which will be able to install next-gen offshore wind turbines, this will be Cadeler's third GustoMSC-designed jack-up vessel…

Offshore installation specialist Jan De Nul Group has ordered a high-end crane simulator for two of its Next Generation Offshore Installation Vessels Voltaire and Les Alizés.According to Jan De Nul, the crane simulator will be based on real physics and the actual vessel models, enabling Jan De Nul to train its crewmembers and realistically simulate complex offshore installations in a completely safe environment, in the most severe conditions. The partner for the development of this simulator is the Norway-based company OSC AS (previously known as Offshore Simulator Centre).

Singapore-based Sembcorp Marine has awarded NOV contracts to supply equipment for the wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) it is building for Maersk Supply Service. This will be the first WTIV for both Semcorp Marine and Maersk Supply Service. The vessel, ordered by Maersk from Sembcorp Marine in March, will be chartered by Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and BP, and will be used for the installation of 15MW Vestas wind turbines at the Empire Wind offshore wind project in the U.S.Announcing the equipment order…

As reported in a Maritime Reporter and Engineering News February 2022 article, Offshore Wind Development Gains Speed in the United States, the offshore wind (OSW) market is beginning to heat up. The White House policy target of 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, increasing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) leasing awards, and permitting target approval dates, together with more state energy procurement awards, are creating demand for more port infrastructure, Jones Act compliant vessels, and manufacturing facilities for wind farm components.

Empire Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Equinor and bp, awarded a contract to Maersk Supply Service for charter of its newbuild wind installation vessel (WIV). This vessel, together with US constructed barges and tugs built and operated by Kirby Offshore Wind, will be used for the installation of the project’s Vestas V236-15MW turbines.The newbuild offshore wind turbine installation vessel is planned to be ready for operation for Empire Wind I and II in the mid-2020s. Maersk…

Offshore wind in the United States is moving forward at pace, thanks in large part to a number of positive developments for the newly emerging industry over the last year or so. For one, the Biden administration at the start of 2021 revealed its aim to have 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power in development by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050. Those are some big numbers, and the industry is now getting in gear to produce.It will take a large number of vessels to help build up to reach these targets, including both U.S.- and foreign-flagged tonnage.

Offshore installation firm Jan De Nul Group said Monday that its next-gen offshore jack-up installation vessel for offshore renewables and decommissioning had been launched at the COSCO Shipping Shipyard in Nantong, China. According to the vessel owner, the Voltaire will be the second and largest jack-up vessel in Jan De Nul’s fleet, and able to support the renewable energy industry to build next-generation offshore wind farms. The Voltaire, built to transport, lift and install offshore wind turbines…

Dutch marine and offshore services company Van Oord has ordered a new offshore wind turbine installation vessel that will be able to install next-generation wind turbines of up to 20MW. The vessel will be built by Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China."The jack-up vessel can operate on methanol and install up to 20 MW wind turbines at sea with a very low CO2 footprint. The investment is in line with the increasing global demand for offshore wind farms. The ship is expected to enter the market in 2024…

NOV announced it has signed a contract to design and equip two wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) newbuilds for Denmark-based Cadeler. The new vessels will have the largest jacking capacity in the industry and will be able to transport and install seven complete 15 MW turbine sets or five sets of 20-plus MW turbines, NOV said.Under its deal with COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry and Cadeler, NOV will supply the overall design for the GustoMSC NG-20000X self-propelled jack-up…

Cadeler CEO Mikkel Gleerup shares insights on the path ahead for his company in the fast-growing offshore wind sector, with details on Cadeler’s new X-Class Wind Turbine Installation Vessels.The last two years were big year for your company, with a name change from Swire Blue Ocean and IPO at the end of 2020 and a rebranding through 2021. What was the rationale for these moves?We rebranded from Swire Blue Ocean to Cadeler end of 2020 to demonstrate that this was a separation from Swire.

NOV announced it has been awarded contracts for the design and the supply of equipment for a wind turbine installation jack-up vessel (WTIV) being built for Eneti. The new offshore wind player Eneti, formerly known as Scorpio Bulkers, ordered the WTIV from South Korea builder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in May.Scheduled delivery in Q3 2024, the self-propelled vessel will be a NG-16000X design engineered by NOV subsidiary GustoMSC to feature increased carrying capacity and lifting capacity, as well as a higher lifting height above the deck.

NOV's GustoMSC subsidiary has secured a contract for the equipment and design of a GustoMSC NG-16000X wind turbine installation jack-up vessel for Eneti.Eneti is a new offshore wind player born out of a pivot into offshore renewables by what used to be a bulk carrier specialist Scorpio Bulkers.Eneti ordered its first WTIV in May 2021, and the second in December 2021. Both vessels will be built by South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).NOV last year won contracts for the design and the supply of equipment for Enetis's first next-gen WTIV…