Blue Marlin heads to Europe with 20 monopiles for a French wind project

Blue Marlin, the semi-submersible heavy transport vessel owned by Boskalis, has set sail from the Dajin Heavy Industry facility in China, carrying a shipment of 20 monopiles destined for the Noirmoutier wind project in Europe. The loading of these monopiles was completed in seven days, and the vessel is now en route to its destination.

This batch of 20 units follows a previous departure of the Black Marlin, which transported eleven monopiles. Each monopile is specially designed with a Shear Key, according to Dajin.

Black Marlin completes first trip

In a separate statement, Boskalis noted that Black Marlin is already in France. With the arrival of its semi-submersible heavy transport vessel in the port of La Rochelle in France, Boskalis has concluded the first part of an extensive marine transport project for the Eoliennes en Mer Iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier project from its client LEMS.

The vessel transported eleven monopiles, varying in weight between 600 and 800 tons, which will serve as foundations for wind turbines in the future offshore wind farm off the French coast. Once these first eleven monopiles are unloaded in La Rochelle, the Black Marlin will sail back to Asia for a second voyage to France with another eleven monopiles.

To make full use of the deck of its Black Marlin, the Boskalis project team installed the casings on the aft deck on the starboard side. This makes it possible to load not ‘just’ ten, but eleven monopiles with a maximum diameter of 7 meters.

The entire transport project consists of four separate voyages for Boskalis. In addition to the two voyages with the Black Marlin, Boskalis’ Blue Marlin is now on its way to the French coast. This sister vessel of the Black Marlin has a considerably wider deck due to an earlier modification and can therefore carry more monopiles at once. The Blue Marlin will also make two voyages towards La Rochelle.