After completing the final preparations, the pipelay took off in Danish waters, close to the island of Bornholm, at a place near the halfway point of the entire offshore gas pipeline route.
Castorone will be successively moving northwest along the pipeline route.
The vessel has a helipad and several stations for welding individual pipe sections and joining them into the final pipeline.
The welded pipeline will be lowered into the sea using a special ramp at the stern of the vessel.
It consists of 3 parts which, by adjusting the slope, enable the pipeline to be installed at different depths.
Tomasz Stępień, president of GAZ-SYSTEM, said:
- GAZ-SYSTEM has reached another important milestone in Baltic Pipe implementation
- After 5 years of planning, designing, and selecting contractors, laying the 1st offshore gas pipeline in history of Polish gas industry has just started
- By the end of this year, we are planning to weld and lay on the Baltic seabed 275 km of the pipeline which will connect the coasts of Poland and Denmark
- Castorone, one of the largest special-purpose vessels of its kind will perform the pipelay operations in the deepest waters
Other vessels engaged in subsea operations are currently working in the Baltic Sea.
Laying the almost 275 km long offshore pipeline will take a few months.
If weather allows, the entire process will be completed this year.
Author: Ajsa Habibic
