Dutch heavy-lifting company Mammoet provided two new pieces of equipment to facilitate the handling and installation of monopiles at the Baltic Power offshore wind farm project.
The deployment included Mammoet’s XXL monopile transport system, launched in 2024, and the MTC 1600 terminal crane with a 1,600t lifting capacity.
These tools were used during the marshalling and movement of 78 monopiles for the Baltic Power project, a joint development between ORLEN and Northland Power, scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2026.
The Baltic Power wind farm, intended to supply 4TWh of electricity a year, or approximately 3% of Poland’s annual consumption, required the movement of monopiles weighing up to 1,680t and measuring up to 86.3m in length with a diameter of 9.1m.
Mammoet’s equipment supported Van Oord in the marshalling processes, which involved transporting the monopiles from factory to foundation.
Monopiles were shipped in groups of three to the Port of Ronne in Denmark, where unloading made use of a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) with 78 axle lines and the XXL monopile transport system.
The system’s hydraulically operated saddles and jacking spacers allowed the safe transfer from transport grillages to temporary storage.
The equipment permitted monopiles to be lifted an additional 0.6m, simplifying placement and retrieval from storage bunds while curbing the need for civil preparation due to reduced gravel requirements.
Before the offshore journey, monopiles underwent plugging and airtightness checks, then were transferred to the quayside.
The two MTC 1600 cranes performed the final lifts into the water, ready for installation by Van Oord’s vessel, Svanen, approximately 23km off the Polish coast near Choczewo and Łeba.
In parallel, Mammoet managed transition piece marshalling for the project, using an LR1800 crawler crane for lifting at the same port.
The MTC 1600 cranes underwent load testing at quieter site areas to minimise disruption and were later relocated for operational lifts.
During the project, the load-in roll-on/roll-off method was altered in favour of using the cranes directly for unloading, which reduced barge ballasting time and increased efficiency.
Mammoet commercial manager Jaap van der Riet said: “When we were in discussions with Van Oord, it wanted to upgrade the Svanen to have a 3,000t lifting capacity, so the vessel could install XXL monopiles in the Baltics.
“To further support that, we said we would develop cranes and systems that matched this capacity. This is a real strength of Mammoet: if no solutions exist, we develop them, together with our clients, to meet their specific needs.”
These operations followed Mammoet’s earlier support for upgrading the Svanen with a new A-Frame, connecting the vessel refit with the marshalling of larger monopile foundations required for the Baltic Power wind farm.
