The heavy lift/transportation contract for the transformer platform topside module was awarded by HBG Steel Structures to Smit Transport & Heavy Lift.

The scope of work involves the transportation of the 1,000 tonne module from HBG's fabrication yard at Schiedam in the Netherlands to Esbjerg in Denmark, together with the lift and installation of the module on Horns Rev.

Work commences the middle of this month following the arrival of the ocean-going barge Smitbarge 1 at Schiedam.

Over a three week period, for the voyage to Denmark.

The module, measuring 30m by 20m by 15m, will be lifted onto the grillage by Smit sheerlegs using a spreader frame and then seafastened.

On arrival at Esbjerg the second phase of the operation, the lift and offshore installation of the transformer, will commence.

Smit's 3,200 tonne lift capacity sheerlegs Asian Hercules II will be mobilised for this task.

The sheerlegs will lift the transformer platform from Smitbarge 1 and carry it in the hooks to the Horns Rev installation site. Asian Hercules II will then lower the structure onto three pre-installed piles measuring 1.6m, 2.0m, and 2.6m in diameter and driven 39m into the seabed. Water depth at the location is 8m. The load out, transportation and installation operation will be completed within one day.

The offshore windfarm industry is an important and growing market for heavy lift and transport providers. Smit's track record already includes the installation of concrete gravity bases for the Tuno Knob wind energy project, also in Danish waters.

Lifting the 1,000 tonne module should not prove difficult for Asian Hercules II. The sheerlegs has recently performed its heaviest lift to date, installing a 2,800 tonne drilling module at Exxon Mobil's Ringhorne platform in a one day operation at the Heerema Tonsberg facility south of Oslo. The job formed part of a week-long series of heavy lifts. Asian Hercules II positioned both this drilling module and a second, smaller unit weighing 1,700 tonnes. They were picked up from a transport barge and lifted onto the platform using a traverse lifting system.

MJ Information No: 16805