Offshore Marine Technology: 2nd Quarter 2020
Offshore equipment supplier Osbit has been contracted to design and build a monopile-upending hinge for Seajacks’ 2012-built, self-propelled jack-up Seajacks Zaratan. The hinge will be manufactured in the UK and fitted aboard the 108m x 41m vessel in Singapore in Q1 2021, and will be used to position the monopiles that act as essential foundations for offshore wind turbines.
Osbit comments: “The pile-upending system will be mounted on self-propelled modular transporters to extend the capacity of the vessel’s existing 800tonne leg-encircling crane, enabling more efficient offshore pile driving.” The hinge is being designed specifically for this vessel, which will help to develop Japan's 54.6MW-capacity Akita and 84MW-capacity Noshiro wind farms.
Seajacks Zaratan’s features include: 2,000m2 of main deck area; a 22.2m-diameter helipad; four legs, each measuring 85m in length (or 67.7m below the hull); and accommodation for 90 persons, spread across 54 cabins. The vessel has been described as a modified version of GustoMSC’s NG-5500X class, which typically carries DP2 notation and can achieve a transit speed of slightly over 9knots.
Meanwhile, the operator’s 2015-built Seajacks Scylla has been selected to service the Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farm 1 and 2a sites, situated 35-50km from the Taiwanese coast. This 139m x 50m jack-up will also be mobilised at the Formosa 2 wind farm in the Strait of Taiwan from 2021.
