COSCO Lays Keel for Cadeler’s First X-Class Mega Jack-Up

July 5, 2023, by Adnan Memija

A keel laying ceremony was held for Cadeler’s first X-class wind turbine installation vessel at COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Qidong, China.

Source: Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler/LinkedIn

The vessel is the first of two that Cadeler has ordered from COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry under a contract signed with the company in June 2021.

The vessels will be equipped with a crane from Huisman and will be able to transport and install seven complete 15 MW wind turbine sets per load, or five sets of 20+ MW units, according to the Danish service provider.

Each ship, outfited with a MAN engine, will have a deck space of 5,600 square metres, a payload of over 17,600 tonnes, and a main crane capacity of above 2,000 tonnes at 53 metres.

According to the previous news, its first X-class vessel would be used for the transport and installation of 100 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines at the Sofia offshore wind farm in the UK, owned by RWE.

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The first vessel is planned to be ready for service in 2024 while the second one is scheduled to be delivered a year later.

Apart from the X-class vessels, COSCO is also building two F-class wind turbine installation vessels for Cadeler, under a contract signed with the company in November of last year.

The new F-class ship is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2026.