Huisman has been awarded a contract from Van Oord for the delivery of a leg encircling crane (LEC) for its new offshore installation vessel. Huisman has built a track record in the segment with this type of heavy lift crane for the installation of increasingly large wind turbines.

According to Huisman, it will be the largest such crane the company has developed to date in terms of lifting capacity, boom length, installed power and technical features. Commenting on the order, Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord noted that the investment prepares the company for the increase in scale in the offshore wind industry.

“With this contract, we can build on the success of the 1,600mt LEC for the Aeolus and once again show our commitment to work on continuous product improvement and new technical solutions,” Huisman’s CEO David Roodenburg said.

For this project, Huisman will implement the same robust and proven technology on drive systems and slewing bearings as used for the LECs that the company has been delivering to the offshore wind market, e.g. to Van Oord’s Aeolus. The scope of work for Huisman consists of the design, engineering and construction of the crane at its production facility in Zhangzhou, China.

The crane will be delivered and integrated in close cooperation with the vessel’s designer Knud E Hansen at Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China, scheduled for 2023.