A Leviathan of the seas joined the skyline off the North Wales coast this week. At night its lights add sparkle to coastal vistas and during the day it can be seen mingling with turbines at the Rhyl Flats offshore windfarm.
Since Monday night the MPI Adventure has taken up station around 8km north east of Llandudno, Conwy. The 455ft-long vessel is a jack-up barge usually used for installing wind turbines.
At Rhyl Flats, site operator RWE said the Adventure is merely carrying out routine turbine maintenance. Photos of the vessel show it periodically jacked up on its six 240ft legs accompanied by the much smaller NSL Adventurer, a high-speed windfarm support vessel based out of Mostyn, Flintshire.
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The MPI Adventure operates in waters up to 130ft deep, with her legs sinking 16ft into the seabed. Once jacked up, the ship is raised more than 25ft above the surface of the sea.
Images of the boat were shared on social media. These were taken by Llandudno resident John Hume from the resort’s promenade using a Sony RX10 MK4 camera.
The windfarm barge was built in China in 2010 and she now sails under a Netherlands flag. The vessel left Belfast for Liverpool Bay early on Monday morning.
She’s fitted with three cranes, the largest of which has a 230ft lifting radius and a capacity of 160 tonnes. Weighing 14,739 tonnes, the ship’s most distinctive features are its jacking legs which, when fully withdrawn, appear like towering chimneys.
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When extended, these allow the vessel to operate safely without being affected by prevailing conditions. The MPI Adventure can withstand 32ft waves, 70-knot winds and 4.3-knot currents.
From a distance, the barge can resemble an oil or gas rig, or else seem to be floating above the sea. She was previously used to install the London Array.
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