Another 3,000 tonne Huisman crane

How the new 3,000 tonne Huisman leg encircling crane will look on the new Cadeler F-type wind energy industry installation vessel. Image: Huisman

Heavy duty crane and engineering specialist Huisman has been awarded an order for a fourth super heavy lift leg encircling crane (LEC) for Cadeler.

Denmark-headquartered Cadeler provides offshore wind industry installation services, operations and maintenance work. It has two vessels in service and more on order.

The latest contract is from COSCO Shipping (Qidong) Offshore in China for Huisman to design and build a 3,000-plus tonne capacity LEC. It will be installed on Cadeler’s second new build F-class jack-up vessel.

The contract for the crane on the first F-class vessel was placed earlier in 2022. Cadeler’s F-class vessels are an hybrid design, allowing conversion between foundation installation and wind turbine installation.

Benefits of electric drives

Drive for the Huisman LECs is fully electric and designed for high positioning accuracy, reduced maintenance and high reliability.

In addition to the two F-class vessel cranes, Huisman is already building two similar, 2,600 tonne capacity, LECs for Cadeler X-class vessels. All four vessels will have 40 tonne capacity electric Huisman pedestal cranes on board as auxiliary cranes.

David Roodenburg, Huisman CEO, commented, “We are very thankful for the confidence that Cadeler has put in Huisman by awarding this fourth leg encircling crane order. The trust of Cadeler’s clients is reflected in the long-term relationship it has built with its supply chain. We admire the way Cadeler continues to motivate and challenge us to push boundaries on every project. Together with COSCO and other partners, we are committed to successfully delivering this project and enabling Cadeler to accelerate the installation of offshore wind capacity around the world.”

For his part Mikkel Gleerup, Cadeler CEO, said, “Cadeler’s growth journey is dependent on stable and reliable suppliers, which we can trust not only to construct the required parts but also come up with visionary designs that meet future demands. Based on our previous experience from working together with Huisman on the cranes for the two new X-class vessels, we are confident that also this time around they will be able to deliver the high-quality cranes we need for our new F-class vessels, which will be able to lift the next generation of turbines and foundations.”

Construction of the new crane will be at the Huisman production facility in Zhangzhou, China. Delivery is scheduled for end of 2025 and commissioning is due in 2026 at COSCO’s yard in Qidong, China, where both F-class vessels will be built.