Offshore staff
SCHIEDAM, the Netherlands — Heerema Marine Contractors has ordered a motion-compensated pile gripper from Huisman for offshore wind farm construction duties.
This will be the third pile gripper of its type built by Huisman.
As wind farm developments extend to deeper waters, the heavier associated wind turbines will increasingly be installed from floating vessels.
The motion-compensated pile gripper protects the monopile from uncontrolled oscillation during lowering and piling and compensates for vessel motions in the horizontal plane, including heave, roll, pitch and yaw, and also drift when the vessel is operating on DP.
Huisman will perform the design and construction of the gripper at its locations in the Czech Republic and in the Netherlands.
The completed gripper will be installed via rails on the side of Heerema’s construction vessel Thialf. It will move up and down on the side of the vessel by means of a hydraulic jacking system.
It will be capable of handling monopiles up to 12.5 m in diameter, with a length of up to 115 m and a weight of 3,200 metric tons.
10.03.2022
