Safeway gangway to back Van Oord at Taiwanese offshore wind project

Safeway has secured a contract with Van Oord to supply its motion-compensated gangway for subsea construction vessel Topaz Tangaroa during offshore wind work in Taiwan.

The Safeway Seagull gangway system will be installed on the vessel in Rotterdam and will be deployed to transfer personnel and cargo during Van Oord’s work on the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a wind farm.

Van Oord is in charge of the transportation, installation and burial of the export and inter-array cables at the 900 MW project under a contract secured with Ørsted in 2019.

Topaz Tangaroa will support the company’s cable-laying vessel Nexus during the activities.

The inter-array cable installation work is expected to start in August as part of the first campaign, and again in March 2022 for the second campaign.

Safeway said that the contract marks its second in Taiwanese waters and the first time it has rented out a gangway to Van Oord for an offshore wind project.

“We’re hugely excited to have two Safeway Seagull gangways operating off the coast of Taiwan, in 2021. And we are extremely grateful having the opportunity to demonstrate our expertise outside Europe, while offering maximum operational efficiency,” said Wijnand van Aalst, Safeway CEO.

“The use of motion-compensated gangway systems is gradually becoming the norm in Asia, and both contracts represent a great and safe way to start 2021, in this promising and challenging market.”