Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2025)

mercial operator to provide ETVs with a speci? c brief to be ready be constrained within offshore wind installations due to the ad- to intervene to protect designated wind farms off the Dutch coast. ditional hazards. No helicopter operation in a casualty situation

And there have already been serious incidents. One case is simple but the additional concern and danger presented by was in 2022 when ISU members Multraship and Smit Sal- the shafts and turbine blades is a consideration for handling vage acted as co-contractors to successfully salvage the adrift a casualty within the area of a renewable energy installation. and abandoned bulk carrier JULIETTA D in the North Sea Other operational challenges for the salvage industry include off the Dutch coast. The bulker went adrift when the anchor responding to lithium ion battery ? res particularly on car carri- chain broke and collided with another vessel and then drifted ers and RoRos as well as container ship ? res which are a major through the wind farm Hollandse Kust and hit a recently in- concern for both salvors and insurers and work is underway stalled offshore wind platform. at IMO to try to make progress on ship design and operations

Salvors were winched aboard from a helicopter and were so that ? res can be contained and dealt with more easily. The able to connect to a seagoing tug and the casualty was towed increasing size of vessels in many classes is also a concern. out to the open sea before later being brought safely to port. As long as there is maritime trade there will be a need for

The incident serves as a very real demonstration of the po- salvage services. Shipping has become much safer and the tential for damaging incidents and it does not take a stretch of number of incidents has declined but at the same time the the imagination to consider the possible consequences if the scope for larger more complicated incidents has increased and salvors had not secured a towing connection and the vessel we have seen this in reality. was left adrift in bad weather among the turbines and associ- The need for professional salvors around the world will not ated infrastructure. cease and they must be supported so that they can invest and

In another incident, in 2023, the cargo vessel Petra L struck a prepare and have access to experienced and talented people wind turbine off the north German coast and was badly damaged. to deliver what are often dangerous services in multiple ? elds

An additional consideration is that helicopter operations can and now increasingly in the context of offshore wind. www.marinelink.com 11

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