Van Oord is upgrading its heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen to cope with the ever-increasing size of offshore wind turbines.

The most eye-catching upgrade will be increasing the crane structure’s height by 25m to handle the next generation of monopiles, while the already significant 3,000t capacity crane will be increased to lift 4,500t via upgraded lifting hooks. Other work includes upgrading the foundation gripper along with the vessel’s structure to handle the latest hammer size.