December 2 - Blue Water Shipping (BWS) has played a key role in the transportation of wind turbine foundations for the Gemini Offshore Wind Park, which is under construction 85 km north of Groningen offshore the Netherlands.
BWS worked with Van Oord Offshore Wind Projects to tailor a bespoke solution for moving the foundations, saving time and expense in the process. Brian Sørensen, sales manager for Blue Water Shipping's wind logistics team said: "Our own naval architect has together with the shipping line come up with a change in construction of the chartered vessel so that it can accommodate the foundations. After ten days' dry-docking in Sweden, the ship was ready for the first shipment."
BWS said its focus for this project has been to minimise the client's total transportation cost. Therefore, each foundation is being moved using a vessel as opposed to a barge - a solution that BWS says is cheaper and less subject to heavy weather.
The vessel will make a total of 38 trips to the offshore wind site, carrying two foundations at a time. The majority of the foundations will be transported from Rostock in Germany, with a number coming from Flushing, Holland.
Van Oord Offshore Wind Projects' installation vessel Aeolus will handle the installation of the turbines and the supporting infrastructure.
