IMCA’S LIF TING AND RIGGING SEMINAR REPORT AVAILABLE TO ALL

The Int ernational Marine Contract ors Association’s 12th Lif ting and Rigging Seminar held in Amst erdam in Oct ober attract ed over 120 from Europe, South Africa, and Nor th and South America It focused on the t echnical and operational challenges posed by increasingly heavier lif ts in the of fshore wind sect or and provided the lif ting sect or with a new mantra - ‘Adopt, Adapt and Improve’.

The mantra’s histor y and detailed information on the seminar content is now available to all It includes concise summaries of all sessions and presentations along with relevant graphs, char ts and, most impor tantly, some of the findings that emerged The repor t was sent automatically to all who attended, now its impor tant findings are available to all in the lifting and rigging and offshore wind sectors to enable them to fully grasp the challenges and oppor tunities

As Conference Chair, and Chair of IMCA’s Lifting and Rigging Management Committee (LRMC), Laura Lombardi, Managing Director of Usha Mar tin Italia explained: “The challenges created in the renewable energy market are stretching the vessels' and equipment capabilities with components that are continuously getting bigger and more complex ” The conference repor t spells out the size of these challenges Siemens Gamesa spoke of 19,747 lifts in 2022 (for 223 turbines) with 110,000 lifts expected by 2030 (for 1,500 turbines)

“It was cer tainly a thought provoking event,” said Mark Ford, IMCA’s Marine & Quality Manager "Seaway 7 emphasised the size and weight of the near-future XXL monopiles, soon requiring a 2,500-3,000+ tonne lift of a roughly 125-m-long object with a 10-11-m diameter, lifting at heights in excess of 120m Another challenge is complacency due to the repetitive nature of offshore lifts ”

He added: “Equipment fatigue is another challenge In the oil and gas sector, for which many of the crane vessels were designed, a 3,500-tonne lift would not be done ever y day; but in the offshore wind sector it is not unusual to do it twice in a single day ”

The repor t is available from www imca-int com/output-from-lifting-technology-in-offshore-renewables/