Huisman to Deliver Crane for Van Oord’s New Offshore Installation Vessel

November 8, 2021 | Maritime | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 4min

Huisman to deliver largest Leg Encircling Crane for Van Oord’s new offshore installation vessel

Huisman, the worldwide provider of step changing technical solutions, has been awarded a contract from Van Oord for the delivery of a Leg Encircling Crane (LEC) for its new offshore installation vessel. This crane will be the largest Leg Encircling Crane that Huisman has developed to date in terms of lifting capacity, boom length, installed power and technical features.

Over the past years, Huisman has built a strong track record with its Leg Encircling Crane because of the high demand for this type of heavy lift crane for the installation of increasingly large wind turbines. Its lightweight, yet robust design, high level of reliability and limited tail swing makes the LEC highly suitable for the construction of offshore wind farms. Thanks to its fully electrically driven system, the crane has a low energy consumption and thus contributes to the reduced CO2 footprint of Van Oord’s new offshore installation vessel.

Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord: “This investment prepares us for the increase in scale in the offshore wind industry and allows us to maintain our leadership position. The crane to be delivered by Huisman will support us to achieve that target.”

David Roodenburg, CEO of Huisman: “We are very proud of this order from Van Oord, who has been a frontrunner in the offshore wind industry since 2002. We fully support their ambition to make offshore wind a more competitive energy source and are grateful for their trust in us to build our largest LEC to date. With this contract, we can build on the success of the 1,600mt LEC for the Aeolus and once again show our commitment to work on continuous product improvement and new technical solutions.”

For this project, Huisman will implement the same robust and proven technology on drive systems and slewing bearings as used for the LECs that the company has been delivering to the offshore wind market, e.g. to Van Oord’s Aeolus. The scope of work for Huisman consists of the design, engineering and construction of the crane at its production facility in Zhangzhou, China. The crane will be delivered and integrated in close cooperation with the vessel’s designer Knud E Hansen at Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China, scheduled for 2023.

Features & benefits of the Huisman Leg Encircling Crane

  • A fully electrically driven system, resulting in high positioning accuracy, reduced maintenance and high reliability.
  • Its energy grid reduces the energy consumption of the crane significantly.
  • In-house developed slew bearing system, providing highly reliable and accurate positioning of the crane.
  • The boom’s unique design makes it stiff and lighter in weight.
  • Stiff construction of the boom leading to reduced motion at the crane tip.
  • Small tail swing allowing for optimised utilisation of free deck space.