HSE Barriers to
quite as badly as the crew of the Julietta D. A bulk carrier sailing in the North Sea, not far from the Dutch coastline, the ship collided with another vessel on Monday 31 January 2022 – and that was just the start of her troubles. Pretty soon, the Julietta D was floating adrift, its engine room filling with water and its 18-person crew rushing to evacuation helicopters. Nor were the ship’s travails finished even then. Drifting helplessly for several hours, the Julietta D crashed into the under-construction Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm, hitting and damaging at least one foundation.
W
hatever your job, Mondays are never easy. But no matter how much you’ve struggled, you’re unlikely to have had a week begin
success
In January 2022, a cargo ship struck a turbine foundation at the under-construction Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, following a collision with a tanker. Fortunately, the accident didn’t lead to any fatalities, but with the North Sea becoming an increasingly popular site for wind farms, industry insiders have started looking at ways to stop similar incidents in future. Enter MARIN, a Dutch maritime research institute that has tested several barriers aimed at preventing collisions between ships and offshore turbines. Andrea Valentino speaks to Bas Buchner, president; Yvonne Koldenhof, senior project manager and team leader; and William Otto, senior project manager; at MARIN to understand the results of their tests – and how they see anti-crash technology developing in the years ahead.
As farcical as this scene sounds, the story of the Julietta D actually speaks to a genuine difficulty. According to recent research, about 80 ships get loose in the North Sea each year. And given 2,500 turbines are due to be installed in the area by 2030, the chance of future collisions between towers and ships is only rising. Nor is this mere conjecture. As the Dutch government has warned, the risk of an unhappy meeting between vessel and turbine is increasing from 1.5 to 2.5 times a year, on average. It goes without saying, meanwhile, that any repeat of the Julietta D can have dire consequences for shipowners and turbine operators, forcing both parties to make costly repairs in what are already torrid conditions. And
World Wind Technology /
www.worldwind-technology.com
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MARIN
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