Technical solutions provides Huisman has signed a contract to upgrade the installation tools onboard DEME’s LNG-fueled offshore installation vessel, Orion. Huisman has been contracted to deliver a 2,300 mt lifting spreader and a set of adaptive damping tugger winches. 

Huisman and DEME have worked together on the optimisation of the spreader’s design in order to increase safety and efficiency of monopile installation. The unique design enables hands-free sling handling of monopiles, controlled remotely, and powered by an exchangeable battery pack. The lifting spreader is designed for the installation of next generation monopiles and can be extended in order to handle 120m long monopiles with a diameter of up to 12m.

In order to ensure maximum control of the monopiles during installation, Huisman will additionally deliver a set of remote operated, adaptive damping tugger winches. Thanks to the in-house developed damping algorithm, these winches actively supress sway motion of the monopile during lifting operations, increasing workability and safety.

The lifting spreader is one of the installation tools of Huisman that can be connected to the universal quick connector, by using a standardised pin interface, contributing to the operational effectiveness of a crane.

David Roodenburg, CEO of Huisman said, “We thank DEME for their ongoing confidence in Huisman to support them in safe and efficient execution of their offshore wind projects, now and in the future. This order is another step in our ambition to drive down the development costs and speed up the delivery of offshore wind farms. To ensure a timely and cost-competitive delivery of these tools, we will deploy our engineering and production capacity in the Netherlands and Czech Republic.”