the Heavy lift ship GPO Grace returned to Halifax this afternoon and took to the Inner Anchorage. the ship is loaded with Vineyard Wind’s third load of Monopiles and transition Pieces.
Fleet Mate GPO Sapphire has been tied up at Woodside for a few weeks.
The Crew there seem to have gotten comfortable,Note the turf and the swimming pool on the bridge wing.
GPO Sapphire arrived earlier this month with the next set of piles and Transition Pieces for the Vineyard wind 1 Project. The Installation vessel Orion will return to load these, once its completed installing the first 6. A total of 11 trips will be needed, And All 4 GPO Vessels will rotate through the delivery duties.
The latest on the Vineyard Wind 1 Project.
(Above) the Pile hammer suspended above the Pile gripper. (Below) The First pile has been moved into the gripper. The gripper is designed to hold the pile in position while the ship moves around it via its dynamic positioning system.
UPDATE May 26:
GPO Grace was scheduled to shift alongside Orion today, but is now headed back to the Anchorage at 11:30. GPO Grace went back alongside Orion yesterday. GPO Sapphire is currently in Aviles Spain, to load the next 6 Piles and Transition Pieces. No ETA for Halifax yet.
Orion looked to be testing the hammer used to drive piles into the seabed. The Crane has positioned the hammer over the pile stabilizer which keeps the pile in position while the ship is dynamically positioned.
(Below)GPO Grace remains at anchor
sorry, couldn’t resit the headline
The GPO Grace arrived on Saturday with Piles and transition pieces for the Vineyard Wind 1 project. The ship brought 6 sets, and tied up next to Orion.
On Monday the ship moved to anchor having transferred one pile and transition piece to the Orion.
No other movements are listed for either ship, so its unclear if Orion will load more Segments before sailing for installation
The Original Orion post detailing the ship and the project it is working on can be found here
The Top of Orion’s crane is over 400′ tall. One commentator Noted they could see the top of the crane from their house, 9km away as the crow flies.
Staging work continues, A large Crawler crane has arrived.
The Offshore installation Vessel Orion arrived at the IEL Dock at woodside overnight. The Giant Main crane is rated for 5000tons. The ship joined the DEME Fleet in April 2022. if the ship looks familiar, it suffered a dramatic crane failure during testing in 2020, which went viral.
The Ship is Here to install Piles and Transition pieces for the Vineyard Wind 1 project off Martha’s Vineyard. The Piles and Transition pieces were manufactured in Spain by Windar Renovables. The pieces were then moved to the Port of Avilés, where they were loaded aboard the GPO Grace for Transport to Halifax. The Pieces are due on May 11th or 12th.
Vineyard 1 will consist of 62 GE wind turbines spaced 1 nautical mile apart. The surrounding area has also been leased to other Offshore wind developers who will be deploying Additional GE as well as Siemens turbines.
Orion will also be deployed for the installation of 176 foundations at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm in the US. That project installed two trial turbines in 2020, and was staged out of Halifax. Bigroll Beaufort , arrived with components for 2 complete wind turbines. the Installation vessel Vole au Vent completed the installation off the Virginia Coast. The Fall Pipe vessel Adhemar De Saint-Venant also took part in the project.
For comparison, the Crane on Vole aux Vent is rated for 1500 tons. That ship also uses jack up legs when working.
The Port of Argentia Newfoundland has won a large contract to be a staging area for a US Offshore wind farm – though the client hasen’t been disclosed, its likely the Virgina Project.
Oh, and if you havent seen the video, here is the 2020 Failure of the Crane:
UPDATE 03/05:
Orion took bunkers from the North Altantic Kairos yesterday. Poor weather precluded photos of the operation, but the North Atlantic Kairos came alongside the vessel.
I attempted to Fly the Drone today, but the on and off rain interfered with the operation. the Orion looks to be setting up a sizable ground operation at IEL.
(Above) Drone View from the transit terminal lot. Lots of folks pulling in to look at the Orion. (Below) View through the fence from the Woodside terminal drop off area.
The General Cargo ship FWN Atlantic tied up at pier 25 sunday. the ship is almost brand new, and arrived from Hamina Finland. Hamina Happens to be home to a wind turbine factory.
The Ship is outfitted with Dynamic positioning, and equipped to handle pipe, so may be in town in relation to the Presence of the Offshore Installation Vessel Orion.
The Noble Regina Allen was loaded aboard the GPO Amethyst Monday morning, and is in the process of being secured for transport.
go get a good look, this will likely be the last oil platform to come into or out of Halifax for a while.
UPDATE: the Ship is set to depart at 8PM tonight.
The GPO Amythest arrived yesterday and took to the anchorage 1 area. the ship will be transporting the Noble Regina Allen drill rig to her next job off West Africa.
