Crane Incident on Alfa Lift Installation Vessel

Seaway 7 has reported there has been an incident involving the main crane on board the Alfa Lift foundation installation vessel, currently under construction at the China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) shipyard in Jiangsu.

According to the company, there was an “unplanned movement” of the folding A-frame on the vessel’s Liebherr HLC15000 crane, installed on Alfa Lift last month. No personnel have been injured during the incident, which is currently being investigated, Seaway 7 said.

The company – a recently created pure-play renewables company combining Subsea 7’s fixed offshore wind foundation business unit with Norway’s OHT ASA – is scheduled to take delivery of the vessel by the end of this year or in early 2022.

Following the crane incident, Seaway 7 said that it was too early to indicate whether it would have an impact on the vessel delivery schedule. The company also noted that the incident was “a matter between the shipyard and crane vendor”.

In a statement to OffshoreWIND.biz, Liebherr said the exact cause of the incident was being investigated and that a team of the company’s engineers are on site.

“Investigations into the exact circumstances and causes of the incident are currently underway. We can confirm that no one was injured. A team of Liebherr engineers is on site. Our colleagues are in close contact with all persons involved and are supporting the investigation”, a spokesperson for Liebherr Offshore Cranes said.

Alfa Lift‘s Liebherr crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 3,000 tonnes at 30 metres and 1,000 tonnes at a 76-metre outreach. The vessel will also be equipped with Red Rock Marine’s 30T compact telescopic offshore crane which will assist Alfa Lift’s main crane during monopile installation.

CMHI, which is building the vessel under an order received from OHT in July 2018, cut the first steel for Alfa Lift on 1 March 2019. In November that same year, the vessel was selected to transport and install monopile foundations and transition pieces at Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B offshore wind farms in the UK.