WATCH: Wind farm crane ship off Caithness coast was involved in dramatic accident caught on video
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The giant crane ship currently working off the Caithness coast is the same vessel involved in a dramatic accident when undergoing tests in Germany in 2020.
Orion is 216.5m long and 49m wide and was seen in waters close to Latheron on Friday afternoon where it is involved in work to site offshore turbines for the Moray West wind farm. However, four years ago she was featured in a news article when her crane came crashing down.
The enormous crane was due to head to the 100-turbine Moray East offshore wind farm when on May 2, 2020 it collapsed when undergoing tests in the Liebherr yard at Rostock harbour. The accident was captured in a 23-second video uploaded to YouTube which shows the massive structure falling onto the offshore installation vessel Orion while undergoing load-bearing tests.
The hull of Orion was damaged and several minor injuries were reported.
Deme Orion floating vessel liebherr crane collapse
A spokesman for the Moray East development said at the time: "Moray East has been made aware by Deme of an incident during crane testing in Germany concerning a vessel which was intended for use on the Moray East site later in the year.
"The investigations are ongoing and Moray East is looking into the potential impact, if any, this may have on project delivery."
A Deme spokesperson said after the event: "A serious accident has occurred today onboard offshore installation vessel Orion 1 at the occasion of and during crane load tests. The vessel is under construction and owned by Cosco (Qidong) Offshore Co Ltd.
"The vessel is moored at the quayside at the Liebherr construction yard in Rostock, with the crane undergoing several load tests."
They added that the crane had suffered “significant damage” as well as the ship.
Orion is the world's first offshore construction vessel to be fueled by liquefied natural gas and one of the largest vessels in the sector. It is currently involved in piling work to create foundations for the new offshore wind farm at Moray West.
Recently, residents in the Latheron/Lybster area have reported strange banging and grinding noises coming from around the coastline that they feared could be having detrimental effects on marine life.
Local woman Michelle Brennan said: "We have only just moved to the area, the noise was horrendous.
"We went for a lovely walk down by the harbour with the dogs. We could hear the banging but not sure what it was. We heard it coming from the horizon – it was terrible.
"Both myself and my husband John are wildlife lovers, on land and in the sea. We are waiting to see the orcas which are currently up and down the Caithness coast, and I dread to think of the impact that is having on the sealife."
Speaking on behalf of Moray West Offshore Wind Farm, stakeholder manager Roger McMichael said: "We have looked into the question of the noise reported by several residents around the Lybster area.
"We are now over halfway through the piling part of the offshore installation campaign for our Moray West offshore wind farm. Piling has been going on since October last. Reports of this noise issue have emerged only recently.
"If the noise is coming from our piling activity, then it is likely coming from the installation vessel that started on the project in February. Piling occurs when weather allows and rarely lasts longer than two hours in a day.
"We have checked compliance with our consents and are fully confident we are operating within the specified limits for piling activity. Indeed, the finalised piling plan delivered lower levels of piling than were originally consented.”
Orion is a next-generation heavy-lift offshore installation vessel owned by Deme Group (Deme), a dredging and offshore energy services company based in Belgium. It was constructed and launched in China in 2018 and officially joined DEME’s fleet in April 2022.
It has been involved in the construction of offshore wind farms across the globe and the siting of XXL monopile foundations as part of this work.
The vessel is equipped with an integrated motion-compensated pile gripper that has “noise mitigation systems” to reduce underwater noise associated with hammering.
Dual-fuel engines enable the ship to run on LNG or alternative clean fuels and it is also equipped with a waste heat recovery system to convert heat from the exhaust gases to electrical energy.
