News in brief

116 wind turbines shipped to Rampion Offshore Wind Farm in the UK

On 14 September, the MPI Discovery embarked from Esbjerg with the last shipment of wind turbines for the Rampion Wind Farm, which is located in the English Channel, 13 kilometres off the coast of Brighton at water depths of 20-30 metres.

MHI Vestas manufactured the turbines, and this was the last of 15 shipments to deliver a total of 116 complete V112-3.45MW wind turbines to the Rampion Wind Farm.

When completed in spring 2018, the Rampion Wind Farm will provide power for 300,000 households. The wind farm is being erected by E.ON, which is Rampion’s majority shareholder.

Port expansion on schedule

“We’ve really made a huge effort, and we believe we’ll finish on time.” That is the message from CG Jensen A/S, the engineering company in charge of the 250,000m² expansion of the harbour area in Esbjerg. The expansion project was scheduled to take just nine months, and it appears to be on schedule.

“It’s going well, and it’s a great feeling,” says project manager Gert Askholm, giving the credit to his staff.  

“Projects like this only succeed because of the commitment, flexibility and hard work of our employees.”

Handover of the new harbour area to the Port of Esbjerg is scheduled for 16 October.

World’s most beautiful sailing ships returning to Esbjerg

The Port of Esbjerg will once again be a host port for the Tall Ships Races in 2018. The spectacular sailing ships will visit Esbjerg from 18-21 July.

As many as 80 tall ships with a total of 3,000 crew members from all over the world are expected to come to Esbjerg. Expected to draw about 500,000 visitors, the Tall Ships Races will be the largest event of the year in Esbjerg. The main purpose of the Tall Ships Races is to give young people aged 15 to 25 an opportunity to work at sea with other young people, regardless of gender, religion or nationality.

The plan is for 150 young people from Esbjerg to sail from Sunderland to Esbjerg, allowing them to experience an exciting international environment where English is the main language.

Companies are invited to become sponsors for parts of the event. For example, a Sailor’s Club sponsorship costs DKK 10,000. This is a unique opportunity for companies to help a young person sail on one of the tall ships from Sunderland to Esbjerg. For more information, contact Villy Grøn (vg@esbjergkommune.dk) or Kirsten B. Kirchner (kikir@esbjergkommune.dk) from the Municipality of Esbjerg’s Event Secretariat.

Large car ferry calls at Esbjerg for maintenance

The car ferry City of Barcelona called at Esbjerg in late August for a scheduled overhaul. The vessel is owned by Belgian shipping company Euro Marine Logistics NV (EML).

Many of the car manufacturers on the ferry’s route from northern Europe to the Mediterranean close down in August for the summer holidays, so this is a good time for the annual maintenance service. The ferry was docked at Esbjerg for a week and had its main engine refurbished and the deck painted.

According to Michael Lodberg Jensen, who is a partner in ESTEPH, EML’s agents, the choice of Esbjerg for the annual overhaul was no coincidence. Two other car ferries, from the shipping company Grimaldi Lines, also recently docked for maintenance at Esbjerg:

“Esbjerg is well located in terms of getting a vessel back on its route. When the car factories reopen after the holidays, the vessels can easily sail south or to the UK”, explains Mr Lodberg Jensen, who adds:

“In addition, the logistics of getting spare parts to Esbjerg are good. Efficient subcontractors at the harbour make sourcing spare parts and getting them to Esbjerg from the rest of Europe easy,” he says.

You can see photos of the ferry below.