SAL: MV Svenja, transshipment of monopiles to installation vessel

Harvesting energy offshore always comes with its challenges. Weather, wind and waves are strong forces that immediately affect all elements of an offshore wind farm.
This is why especially the foundations of each wind mill need to be strong, long-lasting, of good quality and built on solid ground. And transporting such important and sensitive pieces of cargo to its final destination can be quite challenging too. But luckily we love to face challenges and find solutions.
With the transport of 174 monopiles and 68 transition pieces for the Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm, currently the largest (greenfield) offshore wind farm development in the world, SAL continues the strong track record as technical heavy lift transport supplier to complex offshore wind projects.
Justin Archard, Corporate Director Commercial – SAL, states: “Being trusted as business partner for such an important project by GeoSea (DEME Group) shows that SAL is a state of the art technical heavy lift carrier, and adds to our successful track record in this business segment. I am proud that GeoSea choose SAL for this immense project.”
SAL’s MV Svenja will transport the foundations from fabrication yards in Rostock (Germany) as well as Aalborg (Denmark) to the feeder port in Tees (United Kingdom). Part of the scope is also direct transshipments to GeoSeas installation vessels MV Innovation and MV Sea Installation which adds another technical element to the project execution. Philip Stackmann, Project Manager – SAL, adds: “Though the weight of the MPs is greater and the dimensions differ from past projects, our Engineering department was able to modify our existing seafastening and lifting equipment from former projects to carry out the current scope. This highlights our flexibility and our sustainable planning, to cope with the future requirements in the offshore wind market.”
The MPs will be resting in special designed saddles and will be transported horizontally. A challenge to overcome is the flow of shipments between TPs and MPs, which will change along with the installation sequence of the foundations. This means that MV Svenja will have to rapidly change transport setup between vertical and horizontal shipments of units. Time is essential, but SAL has already shown its capabilities for meeting such a project scope.
Sebastian Wenzel, Project Engineer – SAL, continues: “We have mobilized MV Svenja with special seafastening systems for the transport of MPs as well as TPs, and we can rapidly convert the vessel between the two types of cargo. The flexibility of the whole concept gives us the opportunity to react on changing demands of GeoSea within the project, e.g. to transport Horns Rev 3 primary steel TPs in horizontal position on short notice.”
The transportation scope will continue to run for more than 250 days. The first monopiles have been delivered to the feeder port in Tees.