By Isabella Kaminski

Vattenfall’s German offshore wind project DanTysk has signed a contract with Danish company Swire Blue Ocean for the Pacific Orca, a vessel that will transport and install 80 Siemens wind turbines.

The DanTysk offshore wind farm is a joint project between Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München, which is being managed by a team in Hamburg.

Georg Friedrichs, Head of Offshore Projects for Vattenfall, says: “Since there is limited availability of suitable offshore vessels on the market, we are especially glad to obtain this large vessel to DanTysk. The newly built vessel Pacific Orca meets our criteria with outstanding safety, efficiency and reliability. Our project team is looking forward to realising the construction of DanTysk together with our new Danish partner Swire Blue Ocean.”

Swire Blue Ocean’s parent company Swire Pacific Offshore has over 30 years of experience in offshore marine operations and operates a fleet dynamically positioned vessels. The Pacific Orca, which can operate in water depths of up to 75 m, will be certified by the GL Group (Germanischer Lloyd) in line with strict European environmental standards.

The offshore wind farm vessel is being built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea and will be delivered in 2012. Its work will begin in 2013, when it will load offshore wind turbines at Esbjerg before being transported to the DanTysk construction site 69 km west of the island of Sylt in the German North Sea.

Lars Blicher, General Manager and Director of Swire Blue Ocean (SBO), says: “We are delighted to have been selected as the vessel provider for the turbine installations for DanTysk. This project will provide a great opportunity for SBO to demonstrate the enhanced capabilities and efficiencies of our vessel and the high standards of operational and safety performance of our personnel.”