On Tuesday 20 June ZITON took over the jack-up vessel GUO DIAN TOU 001 (ex. TORBEN, ex. FRIEDERICH ERNESTINE) alongside in Weihai, China. The vessel – a twin sister to WIND ENTERPRISE and the fifth vessel in the ZITON fleet – were re-flagged to Danish flag and named WIND ENERGY.
In the following seven weeks WIND ENERGY has undergone extensive work on a shipyard in Weihai to prepare her for her coming crew and for the long transit back to Europe.
The work included:
- Accommodation interior removed and scrubbed.
- The blue color on the hull – worn since birth, changed into the ZITON red.
- Accommodation building, jacking towers, main deck and other upright painted.
- Extensive indoor cleaning of cabins, galley area, TV-rooms etc.
- Spud-cans removed and loaded on deck for the transit.
On Saturday 5 August the vessel was loaded on to the deck of Boskalis’s semi-sub vessel FORTE and is now ready to depart from China. ZITON expects WIND ENERGY to arrive in Frederikshavn, Denmark, in the beginning of October 2023 for a yard-stay, where another two months of retrofit awaits to bring her up to European standards.
WIND ENERGY is expected to be operational by New Year when she commences a six-year time-charter with Siemens Gamesa.
