One of the largest barges ever handled at Lowestoft was safely moved out of the port early in July on her way to Maersk Oil’s Culzean offshore energy project east of Aberdeen.
The large barge carried two bridge sections weighing almost 2,000 tonnes in total. At 122m long and 30.5m in beam, the barge was close to the maximum size Lowestoft can accommodate.
In the previous week, a power generation module for the same project had left the East Anglian port, which is part of Associated British Ports.
The power generation module and the bridge sections were constructed by Sembmarine SLP within the port. The company had been awarded the contract in 2015 to construct new components for the Culzean project.
Maersk Oil’s Culzean gas condensate project is the largest gas field in UK waters since East Brae in 1990. Due to come online in 2020, the Culzean project is expected to meet around five per cent of the UK’s national gas demand.