New leg cranes for Orca vessels
BigLift’s Happy Sky performed two identical shipments of crane parts for GustoMSC between August and December last year. Once assembled, the components form two new 1600 mt high-capacity leg cranes, which are to be installed on Cadeler’s Wind Orca and Wind Osprey jack-up vessels, to make them ready to install the next generation wind turbines.
In Ulsan, KR, Happy Sky loaded the considerable crane parts for Wind Orca early August. Below deck, the 75.5 m long lower boom was positioned. Measuring 75.5*18.3*7.4 m and despite being all lattice, it still had considerable weight and was a tight fit inside Happy Sky’s hold. At the aft end, at the base of the boom, there was just enough space to stack up eleven high-cube 40ft containers with auxiliary cargo on top of the tween deck hatches that were stacked up in the rear.
With the weatherdeck securely replaced, the next items to be loaded were the A-frame and the upper boom. This boom was also well over 70 m long and placed on deck at an angle to allow space, if only a little, just under half a metre, for the slewing platform of 27.5*27*10.9 m which was the heaviest item and therefore placed in the centre of the vessel, between the cranes. Finally, the pedestal was loaded just aft of the accommodation, again a 22*21*16 m piece. With this cargo, Happy Sky arrived in Schiedam at the beginning of October, where unloading was performed in reverse order. The second, identical, voyage, to collect the crane for Wind Osprey, started in Ulsan early November and could be discharged in Schiedam mid December. These high-capacity leg-cranes will be the new means for Cadeler’s Wind Orca and Wind Osprey jack-up vessels to install the next generation wind turbines. The cranes will have a 1600 mt lifting capacity at 40 m radius, having the main hook reach 159 m above the main deck. The cranes will be fully electric driven, helping to reduce the environmental footprint. These special voyages were quite a challenge, due to the limited available space and some time pressure. However, the good cooperation with our partners in this project – GustoMSC and Deugro – made for a successful operation.