DEME to Boost Installation Capacity with New Vessel Order

DEME has ordered an offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’ at COSCO in China, set for delivery in 2019.

The ‘Orion’ will be deployed by DEME’s subsidiary GeoSea for the construction of the offshore wind farms, to service the oil and gas industry and for decommissioning of offshore installations.

With a total installed capacity of 44,180 kW ‘Orion’ will be equipped with a crane with lifting capacity of 3,000 tonnes at more than 50 metres. The loads can be lifted to a height of more than 170 m.

According to DEME, the vessel will be able to take the heaviest monopiles, jackets, wind turbine components and structures in a single shipment, and will be able to install the next generation of giant multi-megawatt wind turbines.

The 216.5 metres long Orion, featuring DP3 capability, can accommodate a crew of up to 131 people.

Luc Vandenbulcke, managing director of GeoSea, said: “With ‘Orion’ we will be uniquely positioned to meet the future requirements of our customers and the trend towards larger capacity turbines and bigger wind farm projects, delivering energy at lower costs. ‘Orion’ will be capable of installing mega monopiles at greater depths. With DP3 technology the offshore installation vessel can continue
operations under the most challenging conditions.”