Heavy plate for the "Mayflower Resolution"

Wind energy is moving offshore - high sea winds turn the "sails" of these maritime "windmills" especially fast. Innovative installation ships are needed to set up wind-farms on the high seas, however. The 130 meter long "Mayflower Resolution" is such a vessel. The ship permits installation of the steel pylons, turbines and rotor blades extremely economically, using six extendable legs. During operations, the ship's structure, however, is exposed to exceptionally high mechanical loads, due to the superimposition of wind and sea forces. This is the background to the decision to err on the safe side in selection of the shipbuilding plate.

Dillinger supplied 5,400 tonnes of high tensile-strength DIMARINE steel, which were required to meet Det Norske Veritas NV-E/F36 and A/D/E/F500 specifications and, in addition, to achieve, at plate thicknesses of up to 150 millimeters, not only a specified minimum mechanical strength, but also a verified minimum impact energy at low temperatures (-60° C). Alongside the highly convincing properties of DIMARINE, it was, above all, the company's great experience in significant shipbuilding projects which won this contract for Dillinger. The "Mayflower Resolution" passed her practical trials with flying colours during the installation of the UK's North Hoyle wind farm, starting in 2003.