The vessel’s delivery took place some two years after the construction started at the CMHI Haimen shipyard and a year after Les Alizés was launched for the final phase of construction.
As the largest heavy lift vessel in Jan De Nul’s fleet, Les Alizés is specifically designed for lifting, loading, transporting, and installing the heaviest offshore wind turbine foundations and components.
The vessel features a main crane of 5,000 tonnes, a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tonnes, and a deck space of 9,300 square metres, which should enable it to easily transport several heavier future foundations in one trip.
The vessel’s crane with Universal Quick Connector (UQC), developed by Huisman, is among the largest in its class, according to Jan De Nul. Furthermore, Les Alizés is also fitted with an innovative motion-compensated electrical pile gripper with an integrated guidance and survey system.
In addition, Jan De Nul’s newbuild ship has a fully automated monopile handling system which consists of a set of cradles, a skidding system, and an upending hinge to handle and install XXL monopiles.
According to AIS, Les Alizés is currently docked at Gdansk Port in Poland and is getting ready for its first mission which is to transport and install 107 monopile foundations and one offshore substation topside at Ørsted’s Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farms in Germany.
Ørsted won the rights to develop Borkum Riffgrund 3 at the German auction held in 2018 by bidding EUR 0, making it the world’s first large-scale offshore wind farm to be awarded with a zero bid.
Located close to Ørsted’s existing offshore wind farms Borkum Riffgrund 1&2 and Gode Wind 1&2, both new projects will feature Siemens Gamesa 11 MW offshore wind turbines.
The 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 will be built simultaneously with the 242 MW Gode Wind 3, which is expected to be commissioned in 2024 with Borkum Riffgrund 3 coming online the following year.
