In recent years, the North Sea Port in Vlissingen has become a base and hub for the offshore sector. The North Sea Port made its offer in this region much more complete and expansive than it had already been, which was perfectly illustrated by the carefully designed approach of the Pioneering Spirit.
Pioneering Spirit is a very unique ship in terms of shape and scale. It is constructed as a giant catamaran, with two hulls linked by a central bridge.
The Pioneering Spirit is 382 meters long and 124 meters wide, occupying an area equal to six football pitches.
Against the backdrop of that scale in the offshore sector as elsewhere, Allseas dramatically raised the bar with the Pioneering Spirit in 2016. In the largest of its many cranes, the Pioneering Spirit can carry up to 48,000 tons. The total weight of the container, 403,000 tons, and the estimated displacement of 1,000,000 tons, also speak to the imagination.
However, the ship is practically a floating village: there is space for 570 people on board in order to minimize the time-consuming and often expensive business of shuttling workers to and from the mainland.
For the gigantic ships such as the Pioneering Spirit, the North Sea Port offers another important advantage in addition to direct access to the North Sea. For all the ports in the Scheldt estuary, this section of the North Sea Port provides the best nautical access. After the dredging of a shallow field at the beginning of 2018, Vlissingen has been open to ships with a draught of 17 meters at high tide.
Maritime Business World