The Norwegian engineering company Techano AS has secured a substantial contract to design and produce highly specialized offshore and marine equipment for the floating aquaculture construction ‘Havfarmen’.
Havfarmen is designed for exposed waters, and aims to make use of new areas for aquaculture.
“I am very pleased to announce that Techano was able to secure the order for two advanced Rail Mounted Service Units (RMSU) and an offshore crane,” said Øystein Bondevik, commercial director at Techano.
The contract was entered with CIMC Raffles in Yantai, China. The agreement is for the first of two planned Havfarm units.
The 385 meters long and 59.5 meters wide aquaculture construction, owned and operated by the Norwegian aquaculture company Nordlaks and designed by NSK Ship Design, will hold up to 10.000 tonnes of fish.
This first Havfarm will be permanently moored in a position southwest of Hadseløya in Nordland, Norway.
One RMSU will be mounted on rail on each side of the construction. Due to the outreach of 25 meters of the cranes on the RMSU, the full width of the six fish pens can be reached. A man basket can also allow operators to reach all parts of the pens, measuring 50 by 50 meters on the surface.
Furthermore, the RMSU will allow for ROV support and control.
Wijnand van Aalst, CEO of the Van Aalst Group, said: “Techano’s knowledge of the fish farm industry and offshore cranes in combination with Van Aalst’s knowledge of gantry mounted crane units have proved to be a winning combination in this case. Moreover, the Van Aalst Group is a regular supplier to CIMC Raffles. Entering the rapid developing offshore fish farm market, establishing strong foothold in Norway and a jumpstart in the specialized 3D offshore cranes were our main drivers to invest in Techano. With this milestone contract, the mutual vision of Techano and Van Aalst receives a flying start.”