Van Oord to Christen Its Cable-Laying Vessel

Van Oord will deploy Nexus, its first cable-laying vessel for constructing offshore wind parks, with a two-day event on the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam.

Ms J. Damen-Carli, the wife of Mr K. Damen, member of the supervisory board at Van Oord and chairman of Damen Shipyards Group, will christen the vessel tomorrow.

With nearly 123 metres in length and a 5,000 tonne cable carrousel, Nexus was built by Damen Shipyards Group at its shipyard in Galati, Romania.

The first project for the Nexus will be the Gemini offshore wind park that will be built 85 kilometres off the coast of Groningen. The construction phase has started and will be fully operational in 2017.

The 600 MW wind park will consist of 150 wind turbines with a capacity of 4 MW each. After construction, the park will deliver electricity to more than 1.5 million people.

Pieter van Oord, CEO, said: “The Nexus is tangible proof of the strength of the Dutch maritime cluster. The ship was built on the order of a Dutch ship owner, at a shipyard owned by a Dutch company, to be used to build the largest Dutch offshore wind park that will contribute significantly to the implementation of the Dutch Energy Agreement.”