One of these is the Vole au vent, a 140-metre jack-up vessel built specifically for the installation of the latest generation of offshore wind turbines. The other is the trailing suction hopper dredger Leiv Eiriksson. Both vessels are among the largest in their classes, anywhere in the world.

Vole au vent at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen

The jack-up vessel Vole au vent arrived at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen (DSVI) late in 2016 having spent the summer working on the Nobelwind offshore wind farm off the coast of Belgium. She came to DSVl for modifications necessary for her second phase on the Nobelwind project; the installation of the WTG scope. These required the demobilisation of her existing equipment used for the foundation campaign and the installation of a new configuration for the WTG installation phase.

Over the course of two weeks, her 3,400m² main deck was cleared of equipment and temporary structures and restored to its clean, completely flush layout. This allows it to accommodate wind turbine installation equipment and components, towers and blades for its next deployment off the coast of Belgium. DSVl also fabricated and installed some new deck structures including grillages for the transport of the WTG towers and nacelles.

Leiv Eiriksson at Damen Shiprepair Brest

On 16 February, Jan de Nul Groups 223-metre trailing suction hopper dredger Leiv Eiriksson departed from Damen Shiprepair Brest after a three-week maintenance programme. This followed an 18-month assignment on a large-scale land reclamation project in Nigeria.

The works included replacement of the 1700mm discharge lines, changing the power cables for the suction arms, fresh paintwork, the assisting of specialist sub-contractors with steering gear, propulsion and thruster repairs, valve repairs and minor steel works. With a hopper volume of 46,000m³ and a DWT of 78,500 tonnes, the Leiv Eiriksson is one of the world’s largest dredgers.

Carlos de Vliegere, sales manager at DSC, commented: “Jan de Nul Group is a valued customer of the Damen Shipyards Group and we are delighted to have been able to deliver the services they required for these impressive vessels within the timescales required.”

Other recent projects for Jan de Nul Group have included works last year on the multi-purpose vessel Isaac Newton at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen and on the trailing suction hopper dredger Taccola at Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam.

Vira Maritime