Orion 1 offshore wind farm installation vessel owned by Belgian's DEME is on charter to install jackets for Moray East offshore wind farm in Scotland.

A giant crane installed on an offshore wind farm installation vessel at a facility in the German port of Rostock crashed during load testing on Saturday, causing damage to the hull.

Asia-based industry officials said that tonnes of steel from the crane fell on to the deck of Orion 1 vessel, causing the hull to sway, although it has stayed afloat.

The cause of the crash is under investigation and the hull is being assessed for damage.

Video footage of the crash was posted online by Offshorewind EU.

Engineering, procurement and construction work on the vessel is being provided by an unidentified Chinese yard.

The hull was completed in October and was sent to Liebherr Rostock in Germany for installation of the crane, which was completed in February.

GeoSea a subsidiary of Belgium’s DEME, will operate the vessel, whose basic design is provided by Dutch engineering house C-Job.

Liebherr, supplier of the HLC 295000 crane, says the HLC boom alone is 160 metres long and the whole crane has a height of 90 metres.

Assembled on a huge pedestal, “the crane is going to have a lifting height of up to 180 metres – almost twice as high as the Statue of Liberty in New York,” it has previously said.

With a lifting capacity of 5000 tonnes at more than 30 metres outreach, the HLC 295000 is designed to lift nine fully-laden A380 airplanes in one go.

The gantry crane provides optimum flexibility for handling all types of heavy goods, according to Liebherr.

The initial plan calls for delivery of the vessel to DEME in the second half of May. The vessel is on charter to install jackets of the Moray East offshore wind farm in Scotland.

It is not clear if the crane accident will lead to a delay in operations at the wind farm, currently scheduled to start in 2022.

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