Maarten Sickler Technical Director of CIG Maritime, talks to PES about the Acta Orion, with its innovative design and their high accuracy 3D metal skin plated moulds….
PES: Welcome to PES Wind magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organization and how you currently serve the wind industry?
Maarten Sickler: It all started in 1972 with the building kits of CIG Centraalstaal, consisting of pre-cut and pre-formed plates, frames and profiles with the goal to help our customers save assembly time on the total construction time of the hull. Since that time CIG has grown into the industrial conglomerate it is today. We currently serve the wind industry with our design and engineering specialists from CIG Maritime Technology. They constantly focus on new developments and innovations in the wind industry and are able to implement new ideas, in an efficient and creative way, into the designs. CIG Shipbuilding offers a comprehensive range of products and services based on CIG’s building kits, the recently turn-key delivered wind support vessel Acta Orion is a great example. Last but not least, within our CIG Renewables division we are producing metal moulds and mandrels for the wind industry. High accuracy 3D shaped metal skin plates make these moulds durable, robust and long-lasting.
PES: You are active in a number of industry sectors. How important is the wind business to CIG?
MS: Yes the wind sector is important to us, more than 15% of the business is offshore wind related.
PES: Is wind energy a growing business area for you? How are you capitalizing on this growth?
MS: Yes, despite the current market conditions our engineering department is working on interesting offshore wind related projects and multiple clients seem to be interested in second generation wind farm support vessels.
PES: CIG has been serving the wind industry for several years. What major changes have you witnessed during this time?
