The Dutch based and family-owned international marine contractor Van Oord, has yesterday in a festive ceremony at the Chinese located Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Ltd. shipyard, taken delivery of its new offshore installation vessel “Boreas”.
She is a purpose-built vessel for the transport and installation of the next generation of foundations and turbines at offshore wind farms, with Van Oord informing that the vessel will be “the largest of its kind once operational.”
The vessel measures 175 metres in length and has a 155-metre-high boom, which can lift more than 3,000 tonnes, with four giant legs, each measuring 126 metres, allowing the vessel then to be jacked up and work in waters up to 70 metres deep.
“Boreas,” with these mentioned features, will be able to install up to 20 MW offshore wind turbines at sea, whilst she has the ability to operate on the future fuel methanol, reducing the ship’s footprint by more than 78%, as Van Oord said in its announcement.
Van Oord states that the “Boreas” now will be prepared to sail to the Netherlands, where the final outfitting works will take place, including the installation of equipment for storing and handling the foundations of wind turbines.
The vessel will also be christened in the Netherlands and named after the Greek god of the Northern winds, whereafter she is expected to be commercially available in the third quarter of 2025.
“The delivery of the Boreas marks a major milestone for Van Oord. I am pleased to celebrate this together with all those who contributed to the construction of the vessel in China. We are looking forward to welcoming this beautiful vessel to our fleet,” said Harold Linssen, director ship management department at Van Oord.
“We’re happy to work together with Van Oord and deliver the state-of-the-art vessel Boreas. Undoubtedly Boreas is a benchmark for the whole offshore wind industry for many years to come and will play a significant role for the transportation and installation of the next generation of foundations and up to 20MW offshore wind turbines at sea,” added Mr. Zhao Hui, vice president of CIMC Raffles Group.
Photo credit: Van Oord.
