Jan De Nul has laid the keel for its jack-up vessel Voltaire at the Cosco Shipping Shipyard in Nantong, China.
Jan De Nul started the construction of Voltaire in May last year with a steel cutting ceremony at the Cosco shipyard.
The jack-up will be able to transport, lift and install the next-generation offshore wind turbines and accompanying foundations, and will also be deployable for the oil & gas industry and for decommissioning of offshore structures.
The vessel will be equipped with a main crane of over 3,000t and a DP2 system. It has an operating depth of over 80m a payload of about 14,000t, and provides accommodation for 110 persons.
It will also be the very first seagoing installation vessel of its kind to be an Ultra-Low Emission vessel (ULEv).
Voltaire is scheduled to be delivered in 2022. Its first deployment will be on the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank offshore wind project in the UK to install the Haliade-X 12 MW turbines.