Orion - big crane in demand

 The crane ship Orion, a familiar caller in Halifax last year, made a "non-working" visit today.

Its 5,000 tonne capacity main crane dominates the skyline, even when the boom is secured in the down position. 

When the ship was here last year it loaded monopiles then installed them at the Vineyard Wind project off Massachusets. The ship then returned to Vlissingen, Netherlands where it made preparations for another monopile installation project off Scotland. Working out of Invergordon, it installed twenty-nine monopiles, each weighing 2,000 tonnes over a two month period on the Moray West project.

Its arrival in Halifax early this morning was for a crew change, which was accomplished in an hour or so, with boat(s) from Dominion Diving.  The ship did not anchor, but used its Dynamic Positioning system, to remain motionless. On completion of the transfer, the ship spun round on its own axis and headed for sea.

The ship is destined for Norfolk, VA where it will work to install 176 foundations for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project for Dominion Energy. (Installation work for the Vineyard project is now being done by the ship Sea Installer working out of Sydney, NS.)

The Orion was built in 2019 by COSCO Qidong, China. It is a 58,203 gt, 60,575 dwt ship with a payload capacityof 30,000 tonnes. In addition to the 5,000 tonne capacity crane it also carries a 1,500 tonne capacity auxiliary crane. It has an accommodation capacity for 160 persons, expandable to 239 persons.

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