Home sweet home on the high seas
ELA Container Offshore manufactures mobile accommodation for oil platforms and other facilities located at sea. The company is currently producing 26 living quarters for a converter platform located in the North Sea.
Offshore platforms are complex constructions that have to provide a storm-proof environment for workers and the sensitive technology deployed there – in a highly confined space far out on the high seas. On top of this, the workers also need comfortable quarters on the rig, as it is not as easy for them as it is for most of us to simply catch the train home at the end of a hard days’ work.
This where the German company ELA Container Offshore’s services enter the scene. The enterprise manufactures and assembles mobile accommodation for offshore platforms. ELA is currently working on a project to provide temporary housing for 60 employees working on a converter platform in the North Sea.
Comfortable units for the workers
In Haren, in northern Germany, ELA builds its two-storey systems and installs the requisite furniture, bathroom fittings, fitness rooms and kitchens. ELA Container Offshore managing director Hans Gatzemeier explains that “our units also include the piping and circuits required for electricity, water and the internet. All the employer has to do is connect them up.”
166 t for stability
ELA is handling its latest project together with the firm Schone & Bruns, which is in charge of the lower construction elements that distribute the weight. The 30 x 30 m, 166 t piece of equipment makes sure the platform remains in balance.
ELA believes there is a great potential in mobile accommodation services, as the offshore wind power industry is booming, with several more farms in the pipeline for the North Sea. Converter platforms help reduce power losses during transmission and frequently also function as support stations for wind farm construction and maintenance work.