Van Oord’s first cable layer is designed for wind park work

Nexus

MARCH 9, 2015 — Rotterdam, Netherlands, headquartered Van Oord christened its first cable layer March 7. At a ceremony on the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam, the vessel was named Nexus by Ms. J. Damen-Carli, wife of Mr K. Damen. As well as being chairman of the ship’s builder — Damen Shipyards Group — Mr. Damen is also a member of the Van Oord supervisory board.

The vessel was built at Damen’s Galati, Romania, shipyard. It is nearly 123 m long and more than 27 m beam and is been equipped with a cable carousel with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes to install long export cables. The first project for the Nexus will be the Gemini offshore wind park that will be built 85 km off the coast of Groningen

The deck layout is the result of in-house engineering and development in anticipation of future market requirements for challenging cable installation works. There are accommodations for 90 people on board.Nexus is the Latin word for connection; a suitable name for a ship that will connect offshore wind turbines with each other and to the mainland.The 600 MW Gemini wind park will consist of 150 wind turbines with a capacity of 4 MW each. After construction, the park will deliver electricity to more than 1.5 million people.

Van Oord is a 10% shareholder in the Gemini project and the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor that will build it.

The EPC contract encompasses supplying and installing the foundations, the entire electrical infrastructure, including the offshore and onshore high voltage stations, the cables, and the installation of the Siemens wind turbines. In addition to the Nexus, Van Oord vessels that will be deployed include the specially developed offshore installation vessel Aeolus.

Van Oord’s strategy is to further expand its role as an EPC contractor for the construction of offshore wind parks. To that end, Van Oord is investing in specialized vessels and recently acquired Ballast Nedam Offshore’s equipment and operations.

“The Nexus is tangible proof of the strength of the Dutch maritime cluster,” said CEO Pieter van Oord. “The ship was built on the order of a Dutch ship owner, at a shipyard owned by a Dutch company, to be used to build the largest Dutch offshore wind park that will contribute significantly to the implementation of the Dutch Energy Agreement.”