April 4 - ALE has used its Mega Jack 800 for the first time in the UK to jack a 945-tonne jacket up 14 m in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Once ALE's AK912 and LR1600-2 cranes had rolled up the heavy unit, the Mega Jack 800 was used to raise the jacket to a height of 14 m. Suction bucked were then positioned under each of the jacket legs using SPMTs and welded to the jacket while the Mega Jack 800 held the piece in place.
"It has been a particularly complex operation to integrate the suction bucket technology into the jacket whilst also considering the construction constraints of the project," explained Matthew Wooltorton, project manager at Sembmarine SLP.
Sembmarine SLP is part of a consortium building an offshore facility - comprising a topside and jacket structure - for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm, owned by Statoil, Statkraft and Masdar.
The wind farm will be located 20 miles from the coast of Norfolk, UK and, when operational, will have the capacity to power approximately 410,000 homes.
