Jan De Nul’s floating heavy lift vessel Les Alizés has left the CMHI Haimen Shipyard in China and is currently heading for Europe. The vessel has been delivered by the shipyard on 16 January and has departed this morning.
Les Alizés is specifically designed for loading, transporting, lifting and installing offshore wind turbine foundations. The main features are a main crane of 5,000 tons, a deck loading capacity of 61,000 tons and a deck space of 9,300 m². With these characteristics, the vessel can easily transport the heavier future foundations, several in one trip, to the offshore installation site, with direct benefits in planning, fuel consumption and emissions reduction. Les Alizés is a crane vessel for floating installation, which means that she is not dependent on the water depths and the seabed conditions.
Les Alizés’ maiden voyage sets sail to the port of Gdansk in Poland where she will be prepared for her first mission in Germany: the transport and installation of 107 monopile foundations and one offshore substation topside at Ørsted’s Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farms.
The SCHOTTEL propulsion package consists of four rudder propellers, two retractable rudder propellers, and two transverse thrusters to ensure optimal propulsion efficiency as well as maximum manoeuvrability.
