Van Oord has reached an agreement on the acquisition of the offshore wind activities of Bilfinger Marine & Offshore Systems GmbH, a German company active in the engineering, construction and installation of foundations for offshore wind farms.
The agreement covers the acquisition of assets and employees related to the offshore wind activities. The acquisition will be finalised after it has been approved by the Bundeskartellamt, the German competition authority. Bilfinger announced its plans to sell its offshore wind business in February 2015, saying that the “business no longer complies with Bilfinger’s risk profile.”
In addition to this acquisition, Van Oord will be investing in a modification of its installation vessel Aeolus to enable the vessel to install the increasingly larger foundations and heavier turbines at wind farms.
The current crane, which has a lifting capacity of 900 tonnes, will be replaced by a crane with a lifting capacity of 1,600 tonnes. At the same time the transport capacity will be extended.
The crane has been ordered from Huisman, a heavy installation equipment specialist based in Schiedam/Rotterdam. The modification of the Aeolus will be completed in early 2018.
”Both investments are part of our strategy to bolster our position on the northwestern European market for offshore wind projects. Acquiring Bilfinger’s offshore windactivities will enable us to focus more on the German market,” said Van Oord’s CEO Pieter van Oord.