Boskalis christens world’s largest rock installation vessel

Originally built as Mac Goliath for a Solwara 1 deep-sea mining project by Nautilus Minerals, the build was stalled because of contractual and financial difficulties and Boskalis stepped in to buy the hull and convert the vessel into Windpiper.

The hull was re-purposed, extending its useful life and reducing the amount of new steel required. The conversion included the building of two large rock holds with a combined capacity of 45,500 tonnes, together with the installation of an inclined fallpipe and moonpool system that enables rock to be placed with high precision around offshore structures such as wind turbine foundations and on top of cables.

At 227 metres in length and 40 metres across, she needs all 31,000kW of installed power to move, which is managed with seven thrusters and dynamic positioning.

“The vessel’s substantial capacity makes it well suited for projects with a long transit distance between the rock-loading facilities and the project site, such as those along the North American east coast, the Baltic Sea and the Southern North Sea,” says Boskalis. “This large capacity minimises the number of round trips required, ultimately leading to fewer emissions and lower costs per installed volume of rock.”

The ship, which has more than 100 single cabins, was officially christened in Rotterdam on Friday by Ms. Jones-Bos, a member of the Boskalis Supervisory Board. The company also held a celebration the following day for 3,000 colleagues and their family members, who boarded Windpiper.