Scaldis, the specialist offshore heavy lift contractor, has had its hand in the crane upgrade of DEME’s jack-up vessel, Sea Installer. The company was contracted to carry out the installation of the new 1,600-ton Huisman leg encircling crane. 

To complete the job, Scaldis deployed its HLV Gulliver, mobilised to Rotterdam. Scaldis said the project consisted of two phases.

In the first phase, the crane was picked up at Huisman yard in Schiedam and put on a barge for further transport to the Maasvlakte. The second phase comprised the lift and installation on Sea Installer’s new pedestal.

“Both phases required extreme levels of accuracy, because of various limitations and restrictions, but thanks to the highly professional crew, all operations were executed successfully within the foreseen timeframe,” the statement reads.

Once the upgrade is over, Sea Installer will be deployed at the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, one of the first large-scale wind farms in the US. Vineyard Wind 1 will feature 62 GE Haliade-X offshore turbines with a 220 metre rotor, 107 metre blades and will be a staggering 248 metres high.