Longest blades
Blue Water Shipping recently transported some of the longest wind turbine blades in the world. The project saw the line’s new joint venture with Breb in action for the first time.
In January two heavylift specialists, namely Denmark’s Blue Water Shipping and Germany’s Breb, joined forces. The new company Blue Water Breb has a particular focus on Germany’s wind turbine power industry.
It is in this field – both from a geographical as well as a specialist’s point of view – that the shipping firm Bremer Reederei Eilemann & Bischoff, which was founded in 1951, has operated since 2008 as a port agent in Bremen, Sassnitz-Mukran, Helgoland and Cuxhaven, where its headquarters are today. Its Danish partner Blue Water Shipping has been active as a logistics service provider to the wind energy industry for more than 20 years. From its home base in Esbjerg, the world’s largest port for shipments of wind turbines, as well as from another 60 offices worldwide, the shipping enterprise is involved in numerous projects.
Two experienced partners
According to Breb managing director and partner Arne Ehlers (inset, centre), the firm has a unique set-up, as it combines the knowledge and expertise of two strong companies. He added that “Breb entered the offshore wind industry with services for the first German wind farm, Alpha Ventus, in 2008. Since then we’ve added lots of experience and naturally also developed our services well.” Blue Water Shipping’s managing director and founder Kurt Skov (inset, second from the right) pointed out that “BWS, which was established in 1972, brings solid expertise into Blue Water Breb. We have a strong international position not only in the wind power industry, but also in the energy sector as a whole.” Together with Breb the line wants to focus on solutions tailored specifically to the needs and demands of their clients, thereby helping to optimise their supply chains.
A great opportunity
The joint venture got an ideal opportunity to prove itself early in February, when it was mandated to transport rotor blades made by LM Wind Power. The 88.4 m long equipment weighing 34 t had to be shipped from Esbjerg to Bremerhaven (Germany). BWS chartered an open-deck carrier, the Meri, to haul the units, which are some of the world’s longest wind turbine blades, and executed the loading operation in Esbjerg. Blue Water Breb, in turn, was in charge of unloading operations in Germany, deploying two floating cranes as one unit in a complex twin-lift discharge operation that was completed on time, despite difficult weather conditions.
