Christening of Bravenes Marks 150th Anniversary Van Oord
The latest addition to the Van Oord fleet was unveiled on 21 May at the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam. Subsea rock installation (SRI) vessel Bravenes was christened by Ms Yvon van Oord-Barbier, wife of CEO Mr Pieter van Oord.
The well-attended christening ceremony marked the start of a two-day event celebrating Van Oord’s 150th anniversary. After the christening celebrations, the Bravenes will set course for Norway to work on various North Sea projects. From mid-July onwards, it will carry out stabilisation operations for Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that will stretch from Russia to Germany.
The Bravenes is the third vessel to join Van Oord’s SRI fleet. SRI vessels stabilise and protect subsea pipelines, cables, and other structures at depths down to 1,500m. Van Oord invests in innovative techniques and ultra-modern equipment such as the Bravenes to maintain its leading position in this market. The Bravenes is an innovative vessel in its class due to its unique ability to install rock in three different ways. She can install rock through a fallpipe inserted through the moonpool, through a fallpipe over the side, and through a tremie pipe over the side. Thanks to the latter method, it even can perform subsea rock installation at close proximity to offshore platforms. Combined with its ability to load and install large rocks, this makes the Bravenes ideal for the offshore wind and cable market.
150 years of marine ingenuity is the milestone that Van Oord is celebrating in 2018. The company has planned several events recalling its momentous past, including the christening of the Bravenes, but will also be looking ahead throughout this jubilee year, for example in the Van Oord Innovation Challenge. For this challenge, Van Oord is seeking start-ups active in marine engineering and offshore energy to join in tackling the challenges of climate change. Van Oord will select ten start-ups and help them to develop their concepts and provide them with professional coaching. The company will give the two winners the opportunity to pitch their ideas during an international conference in Rotterdam in November.