Dubai's Drydocks World shipyard has started construction of the offshore wind installation vessel for the Dutch company Boskalis.
Drydocks World held a steel-cutting ceremony on Monday to mark the start of production on a conversion project for Boskalis B.V.
The shipyard will convert the drillship YAN into an offshore installation vessel named Bokalift 2. The Bokalift 2 is designed to carry out a variety of offshore operations including the transport and installation of wind turbine foundations as well as the installation and decommissioning of offshore platforms.
The project is expected to use over 10,000T of steel, and a 4,000T crane will be installed on the vessel, Drydocks World said,
Rado Antolovic, CEO of Drydocks World said: “We thank Boskalis B.V. for the opportunity to deliver this critical project. The work will equip the vessel with enhanced performance and operational efficiency. As with all projects carried out under the current circumstances, all production work will comply with strict Covid-19 precautionary safety measures."
Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis said: “This steel cutting ceremony marks an important step for Boskalis and the conversion of the Bokalift 2. The huge deck space combined with the large crane make the Bokalift 2 an extremely versatile asset and valuable addition to the Boskalis fleet. We look forward to putting this unique crane vessel to work on its maiden offshore wind project in Taiwan. Yesterday’s milestone is especially commendable in view of the challenging times that we are all currently experiencing.”
The Bokalift 2 will be operated by BoWei Offshore, a joint venture between Boskalis and Hwa Chi construction, and deployed for the first time at the Changfang and Xidao offshore wind farm (CFXD OWF) project in Taiwan, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and two Taiwanese life insurance companies.