Jack-Up Barge B.V. signs multi-year charter agreement with BARD Group

Sliedrecht, The Netherlands, headquartered Jack-Up Barge B.V. has signed a multi-year charter agreement with Germany’s BARD Group for Jack-Up Barge’s Self Elevating Platforms JB-115 and JB-117. The contract is valued at over of Euros 100 million. Both platforms will be deployed in the BARD Offshore 1 offshore wind farm – the largest German offshore wind farm to date. The JB-115 and JB-117 will assist in the completion of the 400 MW wind farm, which is located some 90 kilometers northwest of the German East-Frysian island of Borkum.

The charter agreement was  announced at the Dry Docks World Graha shipyard in Batam, Indonesia,where
the JB-117 newbuild is currently being outfitted following its July 6, 2011launch. It is set to be transported to the Netherlands this October, prior to commissioning for its assignment offshore Borkum.

The JB-117 is Jack-Up Barge’s largest newbuild to date. Built to a GustoMSC type SEA-3250 design, the platform measures 75.9 m in length with a breadth of 40.0 m. The JB-117 is designed for a water depth of 50 m, a 4.0 m maximum wave height, a 1.0 m/s current and a wind speed of 25.7 m/s.

One of the platform’s main assets is its Favelle Favco built 1,000 ton crane, with a maximum boom length of 97 m. The newbuild provides offers BARD a free deck space of 2,500 sq.m. It is described by Jack-Up Barge project manager Maarten Hardon as “a very multifunctional unit.”

The initial contacts between BARD Group and Jack-Up Barge  date back to the summer of 2010, when they worked together on the installation of the BARD 1 transformer station for BARD Offshore 1.

Jan Patrick Daniel of  BARD Logistik GmbH says: “At the end of last year we were looking for an opportunity for a barge to help us with the installations on BARD Offshore 1.That is when we chartered the JB-115 for the installation of the turbine rotors.”

Looking for a replacement for an installation vessels whose charter had ended, Bard again called on Jack Up Barge. “We worked with the JB-115. We know what their performance is like and we were very satisfied. Of course we did our calculations and we decided that economically and performance-wise this was the best way to exchange the unit.”

The project area for the BARD Offshore 1 wind farm in the North Sea covers approximately 60 sq. km. The water is around 40 m deep. Installation work started in March 2010 and involves 80 BARD 5.0 type wind turbines. Thus far, sixteen wind turbines have connected to the grid, delivering approximately 80 MW. Once completed BARD Offshore 1 will be able to cover the energy needs of 400,000 households. The project is being supported by the European Commission within the framework of the European Energy Programme or Recovery (EEPR) with a grant of EUR 53.1 million.

Jack-Up Barge is a leading supplier of jack-up barges for the oil and gas, energy and wind turbine industry, as well as the heavy civil construction market. Jack-Up Barge specializes in the manufacturing, sales and rental of standard and modular self-elevating platforms. Jack-Up Barge is a member of the Van Es Holding Group, its sister companies in the group World Wide Equipment, PVE Cranes and Dieseko offer a wide range of floating and foundation equipment such as crane barges, flat top barges, tug boats, anchors, winches, piling templates, hydraulic pile driving hammers, vibrators, crawler cranes and pile driving rigs.

BARD Holding GmbH is the BARD Group’s parent company. The group was founded in Bremen, Germany, in September 2003, specializing in offshore wind farms.

August 22, 2011