Huisman to supply giant crane for Van Oord vessel

Artist’s impression of the new Van Oord offshore installation vessel for 20 MW turbines with Huisman leg encircling crane

Crane and offshore engineering specialist Huisman has received an order for what will be its largest ever leg encircling crane (LEC).

The new LEC will be able to lift 3,000 tonnes or more and it will be mounted on fellow Dutch company Van Oord’s new offshore installation vessel due to enter service in 2024. The jack up vessel, now known to be called Boreas, will be capable of installing 20 MW turbines and their foundations. Components to build as many as seven turbines will be carried on board. It will be powered by methanol as part of its design to have a minimal CO2 footprint.

The crane will be the largest of its type Huisman has developed, in terms of lifting capacity, boom length and installed power. Features of the LEC cranes include a light weight but robust design, reliability and a short tail swing.

A leg encircling crane consists of a steel A-frame on a pedestal with a large diameter segmented slew bearing, lattice boom and multiple winches. All the major equipment aside from the winches is mounted inside for protection against the harsh marine environment. An operator cabin is mounted at a side of the crane.

All the crane’s functions are electrically driven to further minimise the carbon footprint. Electric drive also means high positioning accuracy, reduced maintenance and high reliability, the company said.

Pieter van Oord, Van Oord CEO, said, “This investment prepares us for the increase in scale in the offshore wind industry and allows us to maintain our leadership position. The crane to be delivered by Huisman will support us to achieve that target.”

David Roodenburg, Huisman CEO, said, “We are very proud of this order from Van Oord, who has been a frontrunner in the offshore wind industry since 2002. We fully support their ambition to make offshore wind a more competitive energy source and are grateful for their trust in us to build our largest LEC to date. With this contract, we can build on the success of the 1,600 metric tonne LEC for the Aeolus and, once again, show our commitment to work on continuous product improvement and new technical solutions.”

Huisman’s scope of work is for the design, engineering and construction of the crane at its production facility in Zhangzhou, China. Work will be done in co-operation with the designer of the vessel, Knud E Hansen, at the Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China.

Comparison of increasingly large offshore wind turbines against the Eiffel Tower