Offshore Wind Sparks Recruitment Drive at DEME

Belgium’s DEME Group is recruiting more than 200 new employees throughout 2017 to meet the demand driven by the growth in offshore wind energy industry.

DEME will put the spotlight on the current vacancies on Sunday, 7 May, during the Open Site Day in Ostend, the annual public event of the construction industry organised by the Belgian Construction Federation.

The dredging, environmental and marine engineering group is once again bringing the wind farm installation vessel Goliath to the Open Site Day at the REBO shipyard in Ostend. During the Open Site Day, the vessel is accessible via a signed route which takes about one hour.

DEME deploys the Goliath primarily for the construction and maintenance of wind farms at sea. The offshore installation vessel is equipped with an advanced jack-up system, giving it the ability to hoist itself out of the sea using four strong spud poles, each measuring 79 metres, and creating a stable work platform, the company said.

Goliath can load, transport and install up to 1,400 tonnes of material on board, including the foundations and rotor blades for wind turbines.

Due to the increasing demand for sustainable energy and in order to reach the European climate objectives relating to renewable energy, more and more wind farms are being built in the European seas.

This year, DEME is involved in the construction of wind farms in, amongst others, Belgium with the Rentel project, Denmark with Horns Rev 3, Germany with Merkur and Borkum Riffgrund 2 and the United Kingdom with Galloper.