On 27 August 2010, MPI Offshore proudly held the launching ceremony of “MPI Adventure”, the first of two state-of-the art wind turbine installation vessels, currently under construction at the Cosco Nantong Shipyard in China.
Following completion of the construction of the vessel’s hull, the vessel was “skidded” down the build pad at the shipyard on to a purpose-built delivery barge. The delivery barge then sailed to deeper water to de-ballast, after which the vessel was launched by floating it off the barge. Tugboats then manoeuvred the vessel into the dry-dock, the dock gates were installed and water was pumped from the dock. The remaining construction will be undertaken in the dock. This will include further construction of the superstructure and the installation of equipment and furnishings.
“MPI Adventure” is scheduled to arrive in European waters in the first quarter of 2011, with “MPI Discovery” due to follow during the third quarter. Paul Gibson, Chairman of MPI Offshore said “The launching of MPI Adventure is a landmark event. I am delighted to see the significant progress that is being made in our newbuild programme. All of us at MPI still have a lot of hard work ahead of us to embrace the exciting challenges the offshore wind industry has to offer us.”