Orange Blue Terminal to Handle Riffgrund 1 Foundations

The Orange Blue Terminal (OBT) in Eemshaven, Netherlands will handle and store 77 foundation structures required for the Borkum Riffgrund 1 offshore wind farm.

The onshore project coordination, project engineering and execution are in the hands of OBT, operated by the Hamburg port service provider, Buss Port Logistics in conjunction with their Dutch partner, Uniteam Projects B.V.

“We are glad that GeoSea opted for the Orange Blue Terminal and our logistics concept. This shows that with the construction of OBT we have met the offshore wind industry’s demands for suitable ports and customized logistics solutions,” says Heinz Wasser, Managing Director of the Orange Blue Terminal and Managing Director of Buss Port Logistics.

A specialist Deme company has been commissioned with the installation of the foundations at sea via the offshore marshalling port Eemshaven, starting in December 2013 GeoSea.

The components are manufactured in Aalborg, Denmark. From there they are shipped by GeoSea to Eemshaven via heavy lift vessel, unloaded and temporarily stored.

In order to optimally move the foundations the monopiles with a weight up to 700-tons are transported to the storage area with an SPMT, consisting of 24 axles lines. During the project the 66 m long piles are stored lying on gravel dunes. A 600-ton crawler crane is also used to bring the transition pieces with a weight of 333-tons to the storage area. The 25 m high structures are placed on specially designed storage supports and stored upright. The fabrication and certification of these supports is also OBT’s responsibility.

The whole onshore handling and storage of the components requires an area of approximately 90,000 m² . This includes the heavy duty quay with a bearing capacity of 20t/ m², as well as the adjacent storage area with an area load of up to 35 t/m².

Starting in January 2014, the foundations will be taken over by the installation vessel Pacific Orca and shipped to the offshore installation site. The 161-meter long installation vessel will jack up directly in front of the quay and load the components with its 1,200-ton crane. The monopiles and transition pieces will be placed on the heavy duty quay within the crane’s outreach. OBT provides optimal conditions for the Pacific Orca to lift itself out of the water with its 6 legs.

[mappress]

Press release, February 3, 2014; Image: Orange Blue Terminal