The UAE-based Lamprell plans to close its Sharjah facility after completing the portion of work on the Moray East offshore wind project currently carried out at the location.
Lamprell already mothballed the Jebel Ali facility in January 2020. The Sharjah yard will close later this year. The Hamriyah yard, the company’s largest facility, will remain open.
As reported, GeoSea awarded Lamprell with a USD 200 million contract to manufacture and deliver 45 wind turbine jacket foundations and three offshore substation jacket foundations for the 950 MW Moray East project offshore Scotland.
Lamprell cut the first steel for the project in July 2019. The work on the project is continuing at the Hamriyah and Sharjah facilities. The company delivered the first turbine jacket foundations to the client on time and on budget earlier this year.
Commenting on the ongoing manufacturing projects, Lamprell has warned, however, that ”…it is inevitable that there will be some impact on productivity and increased costs…” due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect this had on the company’s operations.
Christopher McDonald , CEO of Lamprell said: “We are operating in a period of unprecedented global uncertainty, focusing on the safety and sustainability of our operations and the health and wellbeing of our employees. Amidst industry-wide insecurity and distress, we continue to deliver our projects safely and reliably and we remain focused on strict financial discipline to sustain a healthy balance sheet and progress our strategy.”
Located 22 kilometres from the coast in the Outer Moray Firth zone off Scotland, the Moray East offshore wind farm will comprise 100 MHI Vestas 9.5MW turbines expected to be fully operational in 2022.