Great Britain is the world’s premier pioneer when it comes to offshore wind energy. In the North Sea, in the Irish Sea and in the English Channel there are several zones designated for the installation of offshore wind farms.
In the third round of site allocations alone, so-called Round 3 of the UK’s Offshore Wind Programme, wind turbines with a total generation capacity of 32.2 gigawatts are to be installed by the year 2020. As a consequence, a number of British ports are currently gearing up to tackle the related challenges.
For BLG Logistics as a logistics specialist with international operations Great Britain is, aside from Germany, France and the USA, an interesting market in which BLG can score points with innovative concepts developed by BLG WindEnergy Logistics. “Based on our experience, which we gained in setting up the first wind farms in the German North Sea, such as the Global Tech 1 wind farm, we can provide the British with effective support. Apart from our logistics concepts and suitable equipment, we also have specially trained personnel that can be assigned worldwide,” states Ferdinand Möhring, BLG Managing Director. Against this backdrop, a cooperation agreement has now been concluded with the Port of Sunderland. The aim of the agreement is to jointly create an effective conditional framework for the offshore sector through suitable port infrastructure and optimized logistics solutions.
BLG WindEnergy Logistics launched operations at the ABC Peninsula Offshore Terminal in Bremerhaven around three years ago and has successfully carried out reference projects for wind farms in the German North Sea. BLG has also performed services for the sector as an offshore logistics provider in Emden and Wilhelmshaven. The range of services offered by BLG encompasses terminal operation, planning transport, storage and cargo handling processes as well as developing concepts for complete storage, transport and support systems, also by means of simulation.
The Port of Sunderland is located on the east coast of Great Britain, about 200 kilometers from the Dogger Bank offshore site, the biggest offshore site licensed by the British Crown Estate in the third round of site allocations for offshore wind farms. Dogger Bank is around 8,660 square kilometers in area and has a target capacity of nine gigawatts.