Dajin Heavy Industry has chosen Ulstein’s HX122 design for an offshore installation vessel, extending its activities beyond manufacturing, logistics and transport. According to a press release published by The Maritime Executive, the vessel is intended to install monopiles, jacket foundations and offshore substations as wind projects require larger structures and more complex offshore operations.
The design comes from Netherlands-based Ulstein Design & Solutions B.V. and incorporates the company’s U-STERN hull concept. Dajin, a supplier of offshore wind foundations and associated services, aims to bring installation into its existing offering. The company says this would allow it to cover more of the offshore wind supply chain while reducing the number of separate parties that developers must coordinate during project delivery.
The planned vessel is designed to handle future 4XL monopiles, but its intended work is not limited to wind farms. The release says it could also undertake construction and decommissioning assignments in the oil and gas sector. That combination would give Dajin an installation platform able to serve several types of offshore energy project, alongside its core foundation business.
Technical features include a spacious working deck, lifting systems and dynamic positioning. The U-STERN arrangement allows monopiles to be stored lengthways and raised upright along the vessel’s centreline at the stern, with installation taking place while the vessel faces the prevailing seas. Paired with Ulstein’s X-BOW design, the arrangement is intended to improve vessel motion and operability and widen the range of weather conditions in which installation work can proceed.
Dajin vice president Feng Qi described installation capacity as the principal constraint on offshore wind project delivery. He said the investment was intended to complete the company’s foundation delivery capabilities, replacing developers’ separate coordination of manufacturing, transport and installation with a combined service. Ulstein Design & Solutions managing director Edwin van Leeuwen welcomed Dajin as a new customer, pointing to its established offshore wind supply position as it moves into installation services.