Schmidbauer To Handle Heavy Load Logistics for World’s Largest Offshore Wind Park
6th March 2017
The Schmidbauer Group has been awarded the contract to handle the heavy load logistics for the Walney Extension Wind Farm, UK.
Schmidbauer will unload, store and transport the Transition Pieces (TP´s) weighing up to 600 t and Monopiles (MP´s) up to 1.030 t at the feeder harbour in Belfast. Here, parts of a total of 87 wind turbines are stored which will be taken by tugboat or installation vessel to the offshore wind farm.
Schmidbauer is primarily using the Liebherr LR 11350 (1.350 t capacity) and LR 1350 (350 t capacity) crawler cranes. In addition, 56 SPMT axels are on site to move the MP’s with 8,40 m diameter and 80 m length throughout the port.
The Dutch company Van Oord Offshore Wind Projects b.v. awarded Schmidbauer the contract because previous working experiences on offshore projects such as Butendiek and Gemini had “proven the reliable partnership on large scale operations”.
Per Dong Energy Walney Extension (UK) Ltd., the wind farm operator, Walney Extension is the biggest offshore wind park with approx. 650 MW within 145 km². Therefore, once operating as planned in 2018, the farm is scheduled to produce enough energy for approx. 460,000 households per year.
Schmidbauer has made a name for itself as a reliable and innovative heavy-load expert and is deemed to be a pioneer in the field of moving the heaviest loads. In 2016, the Munich based family company again convinced with its performance in the heavy duty sector when transporting the heaviest MP´s for the Veja Mate project weighing 1.300 t.
Although Schmidbauer most of its income from small and medium-sized clients throughout Germany, it says the percentage of international clients is on the up.