Investigations are underway into how a monopile foundation slipped out of its sling during loading onto SAL Heavylift crane vessel Svenja in the port of Rostock.
Local police said the monopile was being lifted by an onboard crane on 31 October when the incident occurred and came to rest partially on the vessel deck and the adjacent Pier 10, damaging both.
Svenja was loading EEW-built monopiles for delivery to Orsted’s 1.2GW Hornsea 1 wind farm in the North Sea.
An Orsted spokeswoman said two monopiles have been damaged as a result of the accident, however, the company anticipates that there will be “no significant impact on (the) project schedule”.
One crew member onboard the vessel suffered bruising to an arm but returned to work following a check up, she added.
The cause of the accident has yet to determined, the police said.
EEW Senior Project Manager Jörg Stuhr commented: “This accident occurred during loading (so-called load-out), but after our handover and outside the control of our company. The load-out was also not carried out by a company commissioned by us.”