Jumbo Offshore Completes Monopile Removal Job in Taiwan

Dutch heavy lift shipping and offshore transport and installation contractor Jumbo Offshore has completed the removal of two monopiles on the Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.

The Jumbo Offshore crew carried out the work by deploying its DP2 heavy lift crane vessel Fairplayer from Europe to support the onsite operations.

Jumbo Offshore was awarded the contract by Yunneng Wind Power (YWPC) earlier in 2024 for the removal of monopiles at the Yunlin offshore wind farm.

The contract award represented an expansion of Jumbo Offshore’s existing scope, involving the transportation and installation (T&I) of the transition pieces.

Under the additional project scope, two monopiles, which previously suffered from a pile run during an earlier project phase, were to be removed. This involved underwater cutting of the monopiles into sections as well as recovery, transport and offloading of the sections.

The Fairplayer vessel was outfitted with an underwater abrasive cutting and lifting tool supplied by Claxton Engineering Services, as well as an ROV supplied by IKM subsea and survey equipment by Reach Rubsea.

With these, the Fairplayer could remove the monopiles successfully. The individual sections were lifted into the vessel’s cargo hold for transportation to a local Taiwanese port and offloading to the quayside.

The completion of the works took five months, including the sail of the vessel from Europe to Taiwan.

“The close interaction of the project teams facilitated an efficient execution, within tight schedule and budget constraints. The hand-on project management approach in combination with the in-house technical expertise, resulted in a well-coordinated monopile removal campaign. We look forward to continue the close collaborations with Jumbo Offshore until also the other works scopes on the Yunlin project have been completed,” said Jochem Tacx, Package Manager at YWPC.