GustoMSC and Barge Master team up for offshore barge concept
Barge concept to support construction of offshore wind parks in the United States (Illustration: Barge Master)
GustoMSC and Barge Master adopted an approach in which the barge would be fitted to an existing vessel in order to comply with the Jones Act and overcome the operational restrictions of U.S. ports. The Jones Act compels ships which operate in U.S. domestic waters to be built in U.S. yards. The motion-compensated platform BM-T700 will be placed on a U.S. flagged offshore vessel or on a seagoing barge in order to supply wind turbine components fast and safely to the offshore construction sites to be fitted by a wind turbine installation jack-up. By compensating the motions of the vessel, the platform creates a stable lift-off base for a maximum weight of 700 tonnes in sea states up to 2.5m. GustoMSC will perform the naval engineering and the integration of the BM-T700 platform onto a new or existing DPII feeder barge. Although GustoMSC sees sufficient potential for larger purpose-built Jones Act compliant installation jack-ups to cope with the expected increase in turbine size, weights and hub heights, this concept is seen as a rapid solution for the first U.S. offshore wind projects which have to be completed in a short time.
