Le Havre quay upgrades

The development is to meet the requirements for cargo handling at the Siemens Gamesa’s offshore wind turbine factory that is under construction at the port.

The factory, that extends to over 22-hectares, is under construction on the Joannès Couvert Quay in the harbour and when completed it will be the first in the world to manufacture all of the main offshore wind turbine components under the same roof. The factory is expected to be completed and brought into service in early 2022 and it will supply turbines to the Fécamp and Saint-Brieuc offshore wind projects that are under construction offshore in the English Channel.

NGE is a major French civil engineering company that operates through a number of subsidiary companies. For this Le Havre project the work will be carried out by NGE Genie Civil, Guintoli, NGE Fondations, and Maia Sonnier. The construction work that will be carried out will be to build a roll-on, roll-off berth at the Joannès Couvert Quay to handle incoming components for the factory. In order to handle the heavy wind turbine components produced at the wind farm factory the adjacent Herman du Pasquier Quay will be reinforced to enable the over-weight components to be loaded onto ships. Adding to the construction work will be a new road and a base platform to be constructed for the future installation of rail equipment.

The construction work has been started and it is scheduled to be completed in 15 months, in time to handle the production from the factory. The NGE contract is valued at €12 million.

The Fécamp project, located between 13 and 22 kilometres off the Normandy coast, will consist of 71 Siemens Gamesa 7mW offshore wind turbines. Offshore construction is scheduled to commence in 2022 and the wind farm is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2023. The Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany will comprise 62 Siemens Gamesa 8mW turbines. Construction is scheduled to begin this year and the commissioning is also planned for 2023.

By Dag Pike