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DEME and Penta-Ocean Construction announced that Her Royal Highness Princess
Astrid of Belgium and Japanese State Minister of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, Hiroo Ishii, together unveiled the scale model of
the turbine installation vessel Sea Challenger, featuring an upgraded 1,600-tonne
crane, at the ceremony held on 6 December 2022 in Tokyo, Japan.
HRH Princess Astrid is leading a Belgian Economic mission to Japan. DEME
Offshore and Penta-Ocean Construction established their joint venture company
Japan Offshore Marine (JOM) in 2021 to enable both companies to operate
in Japan’s offshore wind market. The company will upgrade and take possession
of the Sea
Challenger
and reflag the vessel to the Japanese flag.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of DEME, Hugo
Bouvy, Managing Director DEME Offshore, President and CEO of Penta-Ocean
Construction, Takuzo Shimizu, and JOM's CEO, Akihiko Togo.
DEME’s ‘Sea Challenger’ has gained a stellar reputation in the turbine
installation market and is currently undergoing an extensive upgrade, preparing
it for offshore wind farm projects in Japan. A crucial step to make the
vessel future-proof is increasing the crane’s lifting capacity from 900
tonnes to 1,600 tonnes. Additionally, ‘Sea Challenger’ will have a wider
beam and longer legs, enabling it to handle the next generation of mega
wind turbines. The vessel will also be reflagged to the Japanese flag.
Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of DEME, commented: “We would like to express
our gratitude to Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid and
State Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Hiroo
Ishii, for unveiling the upgraded ‘Sea Challenger’. This is indeed a
milestone moment for both DEME and Penta-Ocean Construction. By establishing
JOM and carrying out this major upgrade of ‘Sea Challenger’ together,
we show our willingness to invest in the future of the Japanese offshore
wind industry and energy transition. Given Japan’s ambitions to develop
10 GW of offshore wind power by 2030,there are many exciting opportunities
ahead, but also challenges given the complex metocean and soil conditions.
However, our two companies certainly have the expertise that is needed
to develop this industry. DEME Offshore’s marine engineering knowledge
and decades of experience in the renewables sector is combined with the
highly specialised marine construction technology of Penta-Ocean.”
Penta-Ocean Construction CEO, Takuzo Shimizu, said: “It is our great
honour to host the unveiling ceremony of ‘Sea Challenger’ in the presence
of Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid and Minister of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, Hiroo Ishii. ‘Sea Challenger’ will be Penta-Ocean's
third turbine installation vessel. Utilising ‘Sea Challenger’ through
the joint venture company JOM with DEME Offshore, we can operate at the
same time two Japanese-flagged vessels equipped with a 1,600-tonne lifting
crane, enabling to increase our competitiveness in the Japanese market.
By combining DEME Offshore’s extensive experience and technological know-how
in Europe with those of Penta-Ocean's in Japan's severe metocean and complex
undersea geotechnical conditions, I am confident that our collaboration
will make a significant contribution to the expansion of offshore wind
power in Japan.”
Front row,
from left to rightMr. Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO, DEME Group - HRH Princess
Astrid of the Kingdom of Belgium - Mr. Ishii, State Minister of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, Japan - Mr. Shimizu, President, Penta-Ocean Construction.
Back
row, from left to right Ms. De Bilderling, Ambassador of Belgium to Japan
- Mr. Jambon, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders - Ms. Lahbib,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade, and the
Federal Cultural Institutions Mr. Shimokawa, Ambassador of Japan - Mr.
Horita, Director General, Ports and Harbours Bureau, Ministry of Land Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, Japan - Mr. Hayashida, Chief Executive, Specialist
Center of Port and Airport Engineering