PES introduces an excellent logistics base for offshore
wind parks in the North Sea, courtesy of Buss Group
GmbH & Co. KG
The offshore wind market offers enormous potential for logistics. The two Buss offshore terminals in Eemshaven and Sassnitz are ideally located – their close proximity to the wind parks in the North and Baltic Seas and direct access to the open sea make them an ideal interface. As marshaling ports they enable the consolidation of all components and pursuant assembly at the terminal. The inland terminal, Stade, is located along the Elbe between both terminals. As a manufacturing port it is a perfect complement.
The Orange Blue Terminal in Eemshaven is currently in a strong upswing. Besides the complete handling of the offshore wind park Trianel Borkum West it had its premier jack-up in this summer. The loading of the three tripod foundations, with a combined weight of 2,700 tons, for the Global Tech I wind park ran smoothly. As the ‘INNOVATION’ arrived at the Orange Blue Terminal in Eemshaven it was not the first assignment at the Dutch offshore terminal for the modern heavy lift jack-up vessel from HGO InfraSea Solutions, which installs foundations at the Global Tech I wind park for HOCHTIEF Solutions. And it won’t be the last.
“The successful loading of the heavyweights is another milestone for our offshore division. The handling of foundations requires entirely different logistics planning than transshipping separate offshore wind components. This is the result of very good teamwork with Global Tech I Offshore Wind GmbH”, says Heinz Wasser, Managing Director of Orange Blue Terminal and Managing Director at Buss Port Logistics.
The future handling of the foundations, the final assembly of which will occur in Emden, is to continue at Eemshaven in the Netherlands. Global Tech I has also contracted Orange Blue Terminal for the handling of the corresponding piles, as well as additional assembly work on the tripods. It profits from the short distance to the planned and installed wind parks in the North Sea.
Another offshore project – the dismantling of an oil and gas platform located near Borkum – was handled without problems. One of the world’s strongest floating cranes, the Matador 3, brought the platform from the North Sea to the Orange Blue Terminal and placed it on the loading quay for dismantling.
Offshore Wind logistics present ports with huge challenges. For example: The installation of the 40 wind turbines for the Wind park Trianel Borkum requires interim warehousing of 320 components on approximately 150,000 m2 at an offshore terminal, which are also pre-assembled there. A rotor has a 110-metre diameter and the tower has a height of about 90 metres. The components of a wind energy plant weigh about 1,200 tons. The requirements of an offshore port are obvious: large areas, heavy-lift capabilities and the corresponding equipment. An additional requirement is the location, since short distances to the wind parks reduce the costs of deploying expensive installation vessels.
“The decision to establish a terminal in the Netherlands was right on the money,” says Heinrich Ahlers, CEO of Buss Port Logistics. Due to the excellent cooperation with Dutch authorities and Groningen Seaports a fully functional operation could be established in a short period of time, which above all, fulfills the requirements of offshore wind logistics.
