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PORTS EXPAND TO ACCOMMODATE MEGASHIPS
The growing size of today’s container ships is resulting in port expansion projects worldwide, not least Lyttleton Port in New Zealand
One of the most comprehensive marine civil engineering projects in New Zealand’s history has been completed with the help of advanced sensor equipment that can discard incorrect readings and provide immediate real-time data on complex water level fluctuations.
Incidents like the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal in April 2021, and sister vessel Ever Forward in Chesapeake Bay earlier this year, have not only brought the need for marine salvage to the fore, they have also highlighted an urgent need for port infrastructure to accommodate these ‘mega ships’, which now carry up to 24,000 containers. According to global financial services firm Allianz, capacity for TEU containers has increased by 1,500% in the past 50 years.
To accommodate just a tiny fraction of such shipping, Lyttelton Port has had to undertake a deepening project to lengthen the 7km shipping channel by 2.5km and widen it by 20m, increasing maximum vessel draft from 12.4m to more than 13.3m.
Wave problems
In 2018, major works at Lyttelton Port, on New Zealand’s South Island, began with deployment of one of the world’s largest hopper dredgers, Boskalis’ 230m x 32m, 33-tonne Fairway, which was built in 1997 and modified in 2013.
“The port commissioned a dynamic under-keel clearance system to minimise the impact of dredging to a depth not previously undertaken,” said Emilie Dorgeville, VP Business Development, Ports & Renewables at Norway and Scotlandbased Miros Group.
“This used observations and environmental forecasts to analyse the effects and predict safe transit for vessels calling at port. Water level variations in Lyttelton harbour are known to be complex as a result of tide, wind-driven waves, swell, tidal surges, and long waves covering a wide range of frequencies which may differ greatly in space and time.
“Infragravity waves are especially a threat to the safety of operations and transit in most harbours: these long waves are difficult to dampen by port protective structures, such as dykes or breakwaters, due to their large wave length.
“Once they enter a harbour, they can be amplified and excite semi-closed port basins and/or cargo-type moored vessels.”
Miros solution
Dorgeville says that Miros’ RangeFinder SM-140 has been selected by the project managers to provide real-time measurements of airgap, tide, water level and draught with what he says is millimetre accuracy.
Two radar gauges were installed at separate locations in the harbour, one at the port entrance and one in the sheltered inner basin, to measure these complex fluctuations across the frequency spectrum from wind waves, long waves and tidal surge, he says.
Unlike laser sensors, RangeFinder is an IoT-based sensor and is not therefore affected by fog, rain or water spray. It is dry mounted and uses a frequency-modulated continuous wave approach that discards erroneous measurements and makes 50 measurements per second to provide real-time data.
“To provide guidance on the expected long wave climate at sites of interest, a combination of numerical and empirical modelling was performed to establish simultaneous wave measurements at several sites,” says Dorgeville.
“These equations, fed with forecast offshore wave conditions, provided reliable estimates of the operational long wave climate at sites within the port.”
With the RangeFinder continuously measure the sea state, the scheduling of dredging works could be more accurate, thus reducing the duration of the work, minimising impact on vessel accessibility and cutting overall costs.”
“Whilst the initial channel design predicted a dredge volume of 9.7 million cubic metres, the DUKC optimised channel only required a dredge volume of 5.5 million m3, a reduction of 4.2 million m3, or 43%, which resulted in a significant saving in capital expenditure and an ongoing reduction in operating risk,” says Dorgeville.
As shipping grows in size – economies of scale means it makes more sense to increase vessel size – works like this are bound to increase in number. Lyttleton Port is scheduled to be completed by the middle of next year.
8 Lyttelton Port
8 RangeFinder
by Miros
MAJOR OFFSHORE MILESTONE ACHIEVED James Fisher partners NMDC A new floating installation vessel has been in civils work deployed to complete the installation of 28 XXL monopile foundations. Two global marine
DEME Offshore has reached a major milestone engineering companies with the completion of a project in the Baltic Sea to have partnered to expand install 28 foundations weighting 2,000 tonnes each. their capabilities in civils.
Deploying its floating installation vessel Orion for James Fisher and Abu the first time, the firm says the foundations are the Dhabi’s NMDC Group will largest ever installed, with a diameter of 9.5m and a work together going forward length of up to 110m. Project developer Parkwind, based in Belgium, 8 DEME Offshore’s floating installation vessel Orion to identify and execute projects in the oil and gas has taken on the installation in collaboration with the XXL monopiles, automated quick-lifting tools to sector as well as in German government. The plan is to generate avoid manual handling on deck, and several new decommissioning, offshore 257MW of electricity to power 290,000 households noise mitigation systems, says DEME. wind and marine civil by the end of 2023. “We are extremely thrilled to see Orion and her construction industries.
Parkwind said DEME Offshore’s floating turbine motion-compensated pile gripper doing what the “Our alliance will allow us installation method ’is one of the most significant vessel has been created for, installing huge to co-develop more efficient innovations in offshore wind energy and creates new monopiles in extreme circumstances,” said Hugo and cost-effective solutions offshore development opportunities throughout the Bouvy, DEME Offshore managing director. ”This and capabilities to create world’. The Vestas V174 wind turbines will be pushes the boundaries of the offshore wind industry value for customers at a delivered later this year. over the horizon and shows that DEME’s smart scale and breadth that we
An entire set of new specialist tools have been solutions and equipment are ready for the next could not do alone,” said used during this maiden project for Orion. These generation of foundations and wind turbines.” Eoghan O’Lionaird, chief tools include an adjustable monopile sea fastening Parkwind;s country manager for Germany, Manfred executive officer, James system, a newly-built automated monopile lifting Dittmer, said that with the monopiles in place, the Fisher and Sons plc. spreader beam to enable the horizontal lifting of the secondary steel structures would soon be installed.
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FLOATING WIND PROTOTYPE PROJECT PROGRESSES
A wind technology developer is ready for final installation of its floating wind prototype after successful dynamic cable deployment
X1 Wind has successfully laid its dynamic cable and is now ready for final installation of its fully functional floating wind prototype PivotBuoy at the PLOCAN Test Site in the Canary Islands.
“The 20kV dynamic cable will allow us to fully validate the floater and wind turbine performance, feeding the electricity to PLOCAN’s smartgrid, as well as transmitting data through its fibre optic connection,” said Adrian Oliva, electrical engineering manager, X1 Wind. ”Also, we will be able to validate the cable’s dynamic behaviour. Understanding how our TLP mooring system reduces motions and loads on the cable, compared to catenary systems, is crucial as it will reduce fatigue and potentially extend the lifetime of this critical component.”
Unique approach
X1 Wind’s X30 platform offers a unique approach to floating wind, fitted with a turbine in a downwind configuration, enabling the structure to ‘weathervane’ and orientate passively to maximise energy yields.
Because there is greater structural efficiency with a light and flexible design, it supports future mass production at lower cost. The platform uses a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) mooring system which reduces the platform and cable dynamic motions and minimises the footprint on the seabed, allowing for installation in deep waters.
“Our X30 platform is fully equipped with all the electrical systems that our commercial platforms will incorporate. The Vestas V29 turbine, originally designed for fixed foundations, has been retrofitted using a full-converter supplied by ABB and the control has been optimised to floating conditions,” said Mr Oliva. ”The voltage is increased to 20kV with a transformer, to allow the connection to PLOCAN’s smartgrid with the 1.4kmlong dynamic cable. The dynamic cable will be connected to our platform using an innovative connector supplied by Ditrel. Once installed, we will be monitoring the platform in real-time with multiple sensors integrated in our in-house SCADA system.”
X1 Wind said that a strong collaboration with international and local supply chain partners including Noatum Logistics, Hengtong, Trames, Ditrel Industrial, Electrimega, Partnerplast and Gateway, was instrumental in the successful installation of the dynamic cable.
Supported by €4million from the European Commission H2020 Program, with a consortium coordinated by X1 Wind including leading companies EDP NEW, DNV, INTECSEA, ESM and DEGIMA and world-class research centres WavEC, DTU and PLOCAN, PivotBuoy aims to substantially reduce the current Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) of floating wind.
With the trade-winds now blowing strong in the Canary Islands until mid-September, X1 Wind’s team will wait for a suitable weather window to complete the towing and hookup of the prototype.
8 X1 Wind is now
ready for final installation of its fully functional floating wind prototype PivotBuoy at the PLOCAN Test Site
Million pound funding for geotech firm
A Cornish UK engineering firm that specialises in innovative solutions for subsea has secured a £1 million (€1.1 million) growth loan.
The loan from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) will enable Feritech Global Ltd to increase lease/hire stock of technical equipment enabling it to meet demand which has increased significantly.
“Feritech is a Cornish success story creating bespoke advanced engineering equipment for customers all over the world.
8 Feritech’s is expanding its offering to
geotechnical and geophysical companies which operate across the marine sector
With an eye on the future, they are already helping to meet the demands of new and fast-growing sectors like floating offshore wind, autonomous vehicles and space,” said John Acornley, LEP non-executive director and chair of the CIOSIF Advisory Board.
With exports accounting for 95% of turnover, Feritech is a global business with ambitions to expand into new territories this year.
Feritech designs, manufactures and sells a market leading range of marine geotechnical equipment, ancillaries and consumables to a global market. Its customers are geotechnical and geophysical companies which operate across the marine sector in a variety of offshore operations.
Dredging of the River Rhine could take 10 years before it’s enough, says Germany’s Transport Minister.
Media outlets have reported Germany’s Transport Minister Volker Wissing calling for major dredging to be carried out along the River Rhine as water levels fall in the dry weather, threatening trade routes.
Some ships are already unable to navigate the river fully loaded, said Wissing, who added that long-term dredging would be essential as more freight was going to shift from road and rail to waterways. ”We need to eliminate bottlenecks on the Rhine at certain points. We need the waterway,” he said, and confirmed that planned dredging of the river was a project that had come out of a recent German study to become a long-term strategy.
Completion would take until the early 2030s, he said, at a cost of around €180 million.
Campaign to dredge
Before the summer droughts, Wissing had already campaigned to deepen the Rhine between St Goar and Mainz to allow around 200 tonnes more cargo to be carried.
“We continue to sail, but can only load about 25-35% of the ship’s capacity,” said
DREDGING VITAL TO SAVE RHINE TRADE
8 River Rhine
Roberto Spranzi, director of the DTG shipping cooperative, which operates about 100 vessels on the Rhine.
“That means customers often need three ships to move their cargo instead of just one.”
News agency Bloomberg paints a gloomy picture of the situation in Europe as a whole, saying that the 1,800-mile River Danube is also ‘gummed up’, hampering trade.
It also claims that the Rhone and Garonne rivers in France are too warm to cool nuclear reactors, further challenging the country’s power crisis.
In Italy, it says, the Po is ’too low to water rice fields and sustain clams for “pasta alle vongole”.’
Europe’s rivers and canals, Bloomberg says, convey more than a tonne of freight per person per year, and contribute around $80 billion to the region’s economy just as a mode of transport.
“It’s not just about commercial navigation. It’s about freshening up when it’s hot, it’s about irrigating and so many other things,” Bloomberg quoted Cecile Azevard, director at French water operator VNF, as saying. “Rivers are part of our heritage.”
Exacerbating the problems is the war in Ukraine, as a result of which Germany has decided to increase its coal use to generate the power that it will not now receive in gas from Russia. It means demand for cargo ships is rocketing, as are costs.
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SOLAR PROJECT COMPLETED AT NETHERLANDS PORT
A solar roof project has been completed in the Netherlands which will produce 25 million kWh of power per year
In collaboration with Verbrugge Terminals, KiesZon has delivered one of the largest solar roof projects in the world. The project in Vlissingen will create the equivalent amount of electricity as the consumption of approximately 9,000 average Dutch households.
“As a Zeeland company, we are very happy to realise this impressive project on our roofs. In this way we contribute to achieving the objective of the RES (Regional Energy Strategy) in Zeeland. We must continue to focus on clean energy sources,” said Martin Verbrugge, director of Verbrugge International.
Clean power
The solar roofs were installed by KiesZon after Verbrugge Terminals took the initiative to use its many sheds to generate sustainable electricity.
For KiesZon, part of the Greenchoice Group, the project was a first. Erik Snijders, general manager of KiesZon, said: “We have applied something that has never been seen before, we have worked on a large scale with lightweight solar panels that we glued directly to the roofs. In total we are talking about about 3 megawatt peak.” ”The flexible, lightweight panels have been carefully placed, tested and the way in which we mount them has been optimised. This extra element makes this already very special and beautiful project all the more special.”
Connecting the solar panels required an enormous effort and multimillion-dollar investment from network company Enduris, now Stedin.
The company laid new cables from the distribution station in Vlissingen-Oost, partly through deep drilling under the port of Vlissingen.
“Making the impossible possible. That is what we have done together and of which we can be incredibly proud,” said Machiel Joosse, who as key account manager was involved in this enormous sun-on-roof project from the very beginning in 2018.
“As grid operator Enduris (now Stedin), we have managed to avert threatening congestion by combining things in a creative and smart way in this unique project. This has led to this win-win-win situation for all parties involved.”
The total number of solar panels installed at two Verbrugge locations in Vlissingen-Oost amounts to 77,250 which together will achieve an annual CO2 reduction of 15,000 tonnes.
8 The total number
of solar panels installed at two Verbrugge locations in Vlissingen-Oost amounts to 77,250
Shetland wind farm bidders appointed
Mainstream Renewable Power and Ocean Winds have been appointed preferred bidders for the development of a 1.8 GW offshore wind farm off the Shetland Islands.
The two companies now have the opportunity to enter into a 50/50 option agreement for the site, located east of the Shetland Islands in approximately 100m water depth. The output is expected to provide power for the equivalent of more than 2 million homes and save 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
Mainstream has already developed the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wineferrd Farm off the Fife coast. “This is a very significant win for Mainstream which plays to our key strengths as a global leader in floating offshore wind technology as well
8 Mainstream and Ocean Winds have an option
to bid for the development of a new wind farm off the Shetland Islands
as our track record in offshore wind project development,” said Mainstream’s chief executive, Mary Quaney.
Ocean Winds was created as a 50-50 joint venture in 2020 by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. The company has 950 MW currently in operation at Moray East and 882 MW in late development stage at Moray West.
“As Ocean Winds, we are looking forward to using our more than 10-year expertise as pioneer in floating offshore wind farms from development to operation to progress this large floating project awarded with Mainstream, as well as the 500 MW floating project also awarded to Ocean Winds during this clearing round,” said chief executive, Bautista Rodriguez.
Mainstream recently joined forces with Aker Offshore Wind, creating a renewable energy company with more than 27 GW net portfolio. The company has already partnered with Ocean Winds in the joint venture KF Wind in South Korea and are in consortium to bid in the upcoming leasing round for floating wind at Utsira Nord in Norway.
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CORPOWER COMPLETES ‘IRONMAN’ TESTING
’Inspired by the human heart’ - CorPower’s motion mimics the pumping principle of the heart
The first commercial-scale wave energy converter by CorPower Ocean has completed a year’s dry testing with a final ‘Ironman’ endurance exercise in preparation for final assembly in Portugal and deployment.
The Sweden-headquartered firm, with offices in Portugal, Norway and Scotland, has been testing its technology on a purpose-built test rig in Stockholm, which is now a full test facility for wave energy converters.
This C4 device was tested with simulated wave loading in conditions akin to several ocean settings, with the final Ironman scenario replicating full storm conditions.
It was heavily instrumented and engineers used 500 sensors to collect more than one terrabyte of data to monitor changes in the characteristics of mechanical, electrical and pneumatic systems during sustained operation.
“The function and performance of the novel PTO (Power Take Off) technology has been well characterised, with the data confirming conversion efficiency on target, with power export up to 700kW,” the firm says.
“A series of significant milestones have been recorded in recent weeks, with the completion of the composite hull and on-land testing of the PTO,” said Jean-Michel Chauvet, Ocean Director of Integration & Test. “Site preparation work is well advanced for the deployment of our flagship HiWave-5 demonstration project. This will lay the foundations for one of the world’s first grid-connected wave energy arrays, in turn helping demonstrate wave energy’s potential to bring greater stability to the global energy system and provide a future powered entirely by renewables.”
For the last decade CorPower Ocean has been steadily undergoing a five-stage product development and verification process, which initially started with small scale tests in Portugal and France.
It later progressed to a half-scale C3 WEC prototype, which also underwent dry testing prior to sea trials in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, leading up to the design, build and testing of the first commercial scale C4 system in 2022.
8 Dry testing
CorPower’s C4 Wave Energy Converter
Fugro wins wind farm contract
Fugro has been awarded a new marine site investigation contract by Vattenfall for their Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm located off England’s east coast.
The 1.4 GW wind farm forms part of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zone and will generate enough clean energy to power 1.5 million UK homes while offsetting 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
“Fugro is uniquely positioned to provide a range of resources – vessels, equipment and experienced engineers and geoconsultants – to support complex offshore infrastructure projects,” commented John ten Hoope, Fugro’s marine site characterisation director for Europe and Africa.
“Using innovative technologies, we will provide critical, high-quality geo-data to help de-risk future developmental phases of the Norfolk wind farms, supporting the UK’s energy transition.”
Starting in August this year, Fugro will conduct full coverage surveys across the Norfolk Boreas wind farm, inter-array cables and export cable routes. In the first phase of the project, geophysical surveys and unexploded ordnance surveys will be completed followed by a 2D ultra highresolution seismic survey.
These operations will include the use of Fugro’s SEACALF Mk V DeepDrive system for seabed cone penetration tests (CPT) and Fugro’s Blue Snake geotechnical system which integrates CPT and sampling technology.
The resulting geo-data from Fugro’s investigations will be used in the ground model for the wind farms to help optimise foundation and cable design.
Construction equipment manufacturer Huisman says it has come up with a solution to the gap in energy supply with an offshore drilling rig that it says reduces emissions and cost.
In a statement released, the company says its Harsh Environment Semi-Submersible Drilling Rig aims to extract fossil fuels as sustainably as possible while the transition to renewable energy goes ahead.
The rig demonstrates ’holistic optimal efficiency’, says Huisman, with a low-drag electrified robotic drilling system, hybrid power system, 40% reduction of onboard personnel and the option to be powered by wind turbines. The drilling system offers a unique heave-compensated drilling floor that can operate in rough seas, meaning increased productivity and uptime. ”Together with the rig’s sustainabilityfocused hybrid power system, including energy storage systems storing regenerated energy, this ensures that emissions can be reduced by 30-40% per well,” Huisman says. ”Ideally, the rig is powered with onshoreproduced hydroelectricity, via a power cable from a nearby platform. Alternatively, it can be powered by two floating wind turbines, moored next to the rig.
Boat builder Ulstein has contracted marine storage system developer Corvus Energy to equip two CSOVs.
Marine energy storage firm Corvus Energy has been contracted by boat builder Ulstein to provide battery systems for two construction service operation vessels (CSOVs) for Norwegian shipowner Olympic.
The two CSOVs will be based on the Ulstein SX222 design, says Corvus Energy, with a Twin X-Stern that is designed for low-energy consumption.
“During operation, the offshore wind service vessels stay positioned at the turbines most of the time, and with the main propellers fore and aft, these vessels will reduce the energy requirement to a new level when on dynamic positioning,” the company says.
Ulstein has selected the Orca Energy system by Corvus, which has been installed on more than 250 vessels worldwide, Corvus says.
Developed in 2016, it can be deployed in applications ranging from ferries to port cranes, yachts to tugs, partly because of its modular design, which means it can easily be scaled up or down.
According to the industry association WindEurope, Norway aims to allocate 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040, although licensing schedules have already proved problematic, with doubts over Havsul I and II. ”The construction of the new wind farms will take place over the next 20 years,” says WindEurope. ”Norway doesn’t have any commercial-scale offshore wind farms today. But they have already identified two zones for development and are planning to run an
The vessels are prepared for methanol fuel and have available space for additional battery capacity for full-electric repowering when the infrastructure for such is available.
HUISMAN OFFERS SUSTAINABLE FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION
8 Huisman’s Harsh Environment Semi-Sub
”Both radical but realistic solutions offer extreme low emissions per well. With inclusion of the wind turbines, the reduction in emissions can be increased to as much as 86%.”
Despite the global shift towards trying to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, they will be essential for a long time to come until renewables technology can realistically to replace them. ”If Europe is to have a reliable source of energy for the time being, this is going to involve consumption of oil and gas,” said Huisman poduct manager Dieter Wijning. ”We think it’s important that this exploitation of fossil fuel reserves is done as efficiently and cleanly as possible. It is our vision to drive the growth of renewable energy while making fossil fuel extraction more sustainable.” ”Huisman is working towards the energy transition, developing numerous solutions for the harvesting of renewable energy,” the statement says. ”This includes those for offshore and onshore wind as well as geothermal energy. However, to ensure energy security during the long transition, the company continues to develop increasingly sustainable solutions for conventional energy production.”
Huisman says that in light of today’s geopolitics threatening traditional energy supply lines, Europe has to consider the potential of sources like North Sea gas reserves - particularly as this requires less of a ‘carbon footprint’ to produce than options such as LNG and coal.
CORVUS AGREES TO INSTALL BATTERIES ON CSOVs
8 Corvus Energy storage system
auction for a 1.5GW floating wind farm in one of them next year. ”They’ll now start working to identify other zones and to simplify the permitting procedures for offshore wind farms.”
“This is a very important market for Corvus Energy as we see increased interest for batteries from the entire offshore wind segment along with larger and larger battery installations,” said Vice President Sales, Pål Ove Husøy. ”This contract will be the largest battery installation for SOVs so far.”
