New North Sea route structure improves safety around future wind farms


MARIN has performed several safety studies for Belgian and Dutch wind farms over the years in order to assess the impact on shipping. Recently, this has included the different sites of the Borssele Wind Farm Zone.


Difference in the drifting


collision frequency for the route bound traffic per wind turbine (Scenario 1 – Null scenario), presented with the traffic database for Scenario 1


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Lieke van Schaijk l.v.schaijk@marin.nl


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nautical safety assessment is part of an Environmental Impact Analysis, examining the wind


farm’s impact on fisheries, bird life and shipping. This analysis has to be carried out by an engineering consultancy commissioned by the Belgian or Dutch authorities to obtain the necessary permits.


The safety assessments involve two studies: - Direct impact: when a ship collides with a wind turbine due to a navigational/steering error (ramming) or due to an engine failure (drifting)


- Indirect impact: due to the presence of the wind farm, ships need to take an alternative route, possibly leading to more


accidents (as this leads to a higher traffic density in other areas), extra sailing miles, higher emissions and outflow, or personal injuries.


For calculating these impacts the Safety Assessment Model for Shipping and Offshore on the North Sea (SAMSON) has been used.


As well as the risk assessments for the different sites of the Borssele Wind Farm Zone, MARIN also looked at the effect of allowing ships of certain sizes to sail along a passage in the wind farm zone and ships up to 24 m sailing between the wind turbines. The construction of the wind farms in the north-east part of the Belgian North Sea


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