Offshore wind installation company Seaway 7 said Monday there had been an incident during the construction of its Alfa Lift offshore wind foundation installation vessel, currently being built in China at China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) shipyard in Jiangsu.

“Today, we have been informed of an incident involving the folding A-frame on the main crane of Alfa Lift, currently under construction in China.  No personnel have been injured and the unplanned movement of the folding A-frame is currently being investigated,” Seaway 7 said.

“The incident is a matter between the shipyard and crane vendor, and it is too early to indicate if this will have an impact on the delivery schedule of the vessel,” said the company, created recently through a merger between Subsea 7’s subsidiary Seaway 7 and Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT). No further details were shared.

OHT, now part of Seaway 7, ordered the Alfa Lift vessel, capable of installing XXL wind turbine foundations, on speculation in 2018, and has since secured contracts to install foundations at the world’s largest wind farm – the Dogger Bank in the UK.Alfa Lift render Credit: Liebherr (File Image)

According to available information, the A-frame mentioned by Seaway 7 in the incident report has been supplied by Liebherr. Liebherr is also responsible for the delivery of the HLC 150000 main crane.

Per Liebherr’s earlier statements, the HLC 150000 crane is optimized for future wind park installations with a maximum lifting capacity of 3,000 tonnes at 30 meters and 1,000 tonnes at 76 meters outreach, and its foldable A-frame reduces the height of the crane as needed.

Before the OHT/Seaway 7 merger completion, some three weeks ago, OHT said in a social media post that the installation of the Liebherr HLC150000 crane had been completed at CMHI and the installation of the monopile cradles had started in preparation for its first project.

 

 

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