Windpark Tender

The world’s first SWATH tender specifically designed for offshore wind park maintenance, supply and personnel transfer has been completed in Germany for the BARD Group

Built by the small ship and SWATH specialist Abeking & Rasmussen in Lemwerder, the 26.4m loa and 13m wide tender, which draws 2.7m, was named after BARD Holding managing director Natalia Bekker, who died last year. The ship is for the deployment of the BARD Offshore wind farm in the North Sea, some 100 kms away from the German coast. Turbine installation has just begun, with 80 being installed up to the middle of next year using the new, purpose built platform barge Wind Lift 1.

BARD Service CEO Jörg Fangmann said the introduction of Natalia Bekker meant service engineers and foundations could now be transferred and boarded even in seas with wave heights of up to 2.50m. ‘We will retain deployment capability even in bad weather, guaranteeing the high availability of our offshore wind power station’, he said. To ensure safe personnel boarding, the bow of the new SWATH has been fitted with a special rubber fender to allow it to press up against wind turbine foundations. The ship will be permanently stationed at the wind farm along with a 24/7 maintenance and repair team on a special platform.

Natalia Bekker is propelled by two high-speed MTU Diesels, each of 900 kW and driving through Reintjes reduction gears to fixed propellers for a speed of 18 knots. The vessel carries a crew of two or three and a dozen technicians. It is the 11th SWATH ship from A&R since 1999. The yard has built vessels of 25m, 40m, 50m and 60m which now serve as Pilot Tenders, Pilot Station Ships, patrol vessels, and even as a privately owned motor yacht. Estonian waterway authorities have ordered a hydrographic research SWATH.

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