- DEME and Penta-Ocean Construction have unveiled the ‘Sea Challenger’, a scale model of their turbine installation vessel, featuring an upgraded 1,600-tonne crane, in Tokyo, Japan.
- The crane’s lifting capacity is increasing from 900 to 1,600 tonnes. Also, Sea Challenger will have a wider beam and longer legs.
DEME and Penta-Ocean Construction have unveiled the ‘Sea Challenger’, a scale model of their turbine installation vessel, featuring an upgraded 1,600-tonne crane, in Tokyo, Japan. In addition, DEME Offshore and Penta-Ocean Construction established their joint venture company, Japan Offshore Marine (JOM), in 2021 to enable both companies to play a leading role in the long-term development of Japan’s offshore wind market and the energy transition.
DEME’s Sea Challenger is undergoing an extensive upgrade, preparing it for offshore wind farm projects in Japan. The crane’s lifting capacity is increasing from 900 to 1,600 tonnes. Also, Sea Challenger will have a wider beam and longer legs. DEME Offshore’s marine engineering knowledge and decades of experience in the renewables sector are combined with Penta-Ocean’s highly specialised marine construction technology.
DEME chief executive Luc Vandenbulcke said: “By establishing JOM and carrying out this major upgrade of Sea Challenger together, we show our willingness to invest in the future of the Japanese offshore wind industry and energy transition. Given Japan’s ambitions to develop 10GW of offshore wind power by 2030, there are many exciting opportunities and challenges given the complex metocean and soil conditions”. The Penta-Ocean Construction chief executive Takuzo Shimizu added: “Utilising Sea Challenger through the joint venture company JOM with DEME Offshore, we can operate at the same time two Japanese-flagged vessels equipped with a 1,600-tonne lifting crane, enabling to increase our competitiveness in the Japanese market”.