July 27 - Over the course of seven voyages, Jumbo Shipping has transported 51 monopiles from EEW's manufacturing plant in Rostock, Germany, to Barrow-in-Furness in the UK. The monopiles' final destination was DONG Energy's Walney Offshore Windfarm 2.
When the contract was awarded, the first shipment was only seven weeks away, during which time Jumboengineered all shipments and designed and manufactured saddles for the monopiles. Within this short period of time all was ready and approved by the Marine Warranty Surveyor.
Jumbo's Fairpartner made six consecutive voyages carrying eight monopiles at a time: two in the hold and six on deck. The largest monopile weighed 806 tonnes and measured 68 m in length and 6.5 m in diameter.
In order to improve the delivery schedule, DONG Energy asked Jumbo to employ Jumbo Vision to transport the last three monopiles. The transport engineering plus design and fabrication of the stoppers for the sea fasting of the monopiles was done within a two week time frame.
At Barrow-in-Furness, the discharging of the monopiles was done round the clock in order to minimise the ship's time in port. Jumbo's shallow draft ship entered the port during high water. After entering the dock gate had to be closed and no marine traffic was possible. Each discharge operation of eight monopiles was completed within 36 hours.
Jumbo says that by transporting as many as eight monopiles per voyage, it was able to complete the project in a relatively few voyages and thereby reduced the project's environmental impact.
The shipping lines also says that the project shows that it is very well equipped for transporting monopiles to offshore windfarms.
