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Aug 07, 2009 Name-giving jumbo jack-up platform Goliath sets GeoSea into pole position for the construction of offshore wind farms ANTWERP – The Name-giving of the jumbo jack-up platform Goliath offers DEME operation company GeoSea a unique tool to grab a leading position in the construction of wind farms in far-shore deep waters. The Goliath is the largest jack-up platform of its type ever built. It was christened by Mrs. Maria Van den Bossche, spouse of Mr. Etienne Schouppe, State Secretary for mobility with responsibility for the North Sea, in Antwerp on Thursday 6th August in the afternoon. Within two weeks Goliath will leave Antwerp for its first offshore wind farm construction assignment – the Alpha Ventus project – off the German island Borkum.

GeoSea is a niche company of the Zwijndrecht (Belgium) based dredging, environmental and marine engineering group DEME. The company is specialised in a number of innovative techniques applied for marine construction. Jack-up platforms are the actual “work horses” for this type of offshore operations.

Standing firmly on its 80-m long legs, the Goliath can work safely and efficiently in record water depths up to 50 m. It is the largest jack-up platform of this type ever built and it is the 7th self-elevating platform in the GeoSea fleet. The platform has been built in only nine months by the consortium Iemants-MSC. The Goliath has an operational surface of 55 x 32 m and a load capacity of 1,600 tonnes.

As recently as 7th July the platform was lifted off the quay in Antwerp and safely launched. The lifting operation of the 2,400-tonne platform was performed by the heavy-lift vessel Rambiz, owned by DEME heavy-lift specialist company Scaldis.

During over 30 years of marine construction activities, GeoSea and its predecessors have  gained a firm foothold on the Belgian and international markets. Within the DEME group just as well, GeoSea has acquired the strong status of a solid company contributing significantly to the corporate objectives with regard to turnover, profit and diversification.

The company is active worldwide with works completed recently in Belgium and Germany, Oman and Australia, in Cameroon, Spain, Panama and Mexico. Apart from its specialised equipment and the offshore experience of its workforce, GeoSea has been able to extend its market position owing to a dedicated innovative approach. In the past 18 months only, the company has taken out patents for a heavy-lift tower used to ballast the Thornton wind turbines using a platform as a counter weight; for a new spud technique applied in soft rock bottoms in Oman; and for the use of the DRACULA high-pressure system on vertical drilling rigs.

GeoSea offers quite a range of services to the offshore oil and gas industry. Most of them are useful for the construction of large offshore wind turbine farms : offshore soil investigations, drilling and hammering of large-diameter piles used for jetty construction, bridge foundations and offshore structures, soft soil improvement, drilling and blasting, horizontal directional drilling under roads, waterways, dunes or environmentally sensitive areas, platform accommocation for the oil and gas industry.

Last year, GeoSea has performed successfully a large range of marine activities for the construction of the C-Power farshore windfarm on the Thornton bank off the Belgian coast : the installation of Gravity Base Foundations, erosion protection with GOSA-mattresses of subsea cable crossings, directional drilling of a HT-cable under the dunes and the installation of 5MW wind turbines.

After the completion of the first phase of the Thornton C-Power project, GeoSea’s parent company DEME announced new contracts and letters of intent for a total value of € 110 million. These contracts are related to the construction of three new offshore wind farms in Europe : Alpha Ventus in Northern Germany; Walney I and II in the Irish Sea; and the Ormonde project in the Irish sea as well. This involves the full employment of the Goliath and other GeoSea platforms for the coming years.

The 2,400 tonnes Goliath jack-up platform wears the green colours of DEME, a symbol for the environmental friendly nature of the activities and for the sustainable image of the DEME Group.