General – Rock Installation
Recently Boskalis’ newest subsea rock installation vessel, the Windpiper, arrived in the Netherlands.
The 227-meter-long DP2 vessel has a rock-carrying capacity of 45,500 tons, making it the largest of its kind in the world, and will undergo further outfitting in Rotterdam’s Waalhaven for its first rock installation project in the Baltic Sea later this year.
Over a year ago, Boskalis announced the purchase of the Windpiper, which at that time had a completely different function. A tremendous amount of work has since been done to convert the vessel into the state-of-the-art subsea rock installation vessel Windpiper.
This included the creation of two large rock holds and the installation of the inclined fallpipe. This enables the Windpiper to install rock with great precision on and around offshore structures.
