WTIV Allision Ends in Gantry Crane Collapse at Port of Tyne
On Sunday afternoon, a giant wind turbine installation vessel hit a moored boxship at the port of Tyne, UK, resulting in an allision with a gantry crane on the quayside.
At about 1300 hours, the WTIV Wind Orca departed the pier at Cadeler's offshore wind staging terminal at Port of Tyne and headed outbound for sea. She allided with the feeder boxship BG Orange, which was moored alongside the pier. After the allision, a gantry crane was knocked over, its boom falling onto the top of BG Orange's wheelhouse.
One person was brought to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries following the casualty. An air ambulance crew delivered medical personnel to the scene to treat the patient, who was then transferred to an ambulance for onward transport. A massive emergency response operation is now under way, and a full investigation has begun in parallel, Port of Tyne told local media. Wind Orca has returned to her previous berth, and remained there as of Sunday night.
Wind Orca (orange) departs the dock and returns after alliding with BG Orange (red) (Pole Star Global)
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Aerial images from the scene show several containers askew on BG Orange's starboard side, opposite the pier. The exact circumstances of the allision are still being clarified.
Wind Orca is an O-class jackup WTIV operated by Cadeler. Wind Orca and Wind Osprey are giants in their class, capable of installing the next generation of ultra-large wind turbines. In order to keep the ship competitive, Cadeler invested $100 million to retrofit a 1,600-tonne mega-crane onto Wind Orca's stern in 2020-24 - slightly larger than the crane on the previous leader Wind Scylla.
