First Nordergründe Nacelles Reach Base

The first nine of eighteen nacelles built by Senvion for the 111MW Nordergründe offshore wind farm have arrived at the south end of the Bremerhaven Container Terminal, Eurogate, the operator of the terminal, reports.

Weighing 340 tonnes each, the nacelles were transported from the Senvion factory in Bremerhaven’s Labradorhafen via pontoon to the Nordhafen and then moved to the premises from there.

Eurogate, together with BLG as a sub-contractor, is carrying out all the near-shore logistics – from the factory to the base port.

The first nacelles were loaded and discharged via a Roll on Roll off (RoRo) onto the special pontoon Offshore Bhv 1. To achieve this, two special transporters, with twelve axes each, the so-called self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), were deployed. This eliminated the need for large cranes and simplified the logistics process as well, Eurogate said.

The remaining nine nacelles are scheduled to be transported from the factory to the base port at the end of July and the beginning of August. At that time, the preparations for loading the nacelles onto the wind turbine installation vessel MPI Enterprise are expected to begin, Eurogate says.

Senvion has been using the premises and quayside of CT I for the handling and storage of its offshore components since early April.

Nordergründe is being constructed at a water depth of 10m, approximately 15km north-east of the island of Wangerooge. The wind farm, being developed by wpd, will feature 18 Senvion Type 6.2M126 turbines scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2016.