After installing the final wind turbine foundation at Burbo Bank Extension wind farm in Liverpool Bay, Van Oord’s HLV Svanen received a warm welcome in Belfast as it moored at Harland and Wolff’s Commissioning Quay. The sheerleg catamaran is to undergo repairs and outfitting at the well known shipyard, ahead of its next contract.
The latest addition to the Harbour skyline, this 1990-built heavy lift installation vessel is taller than H&W’s gantry crane Samson, which stands at 106m from the rails. Svanen has an impressive maximum lift capacity of 8,700 tonnes (excluding rigging; 8,200 tonnes including rigging). To put this into perspective, the metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes!
