Floating city. These are the possibilities of the world's largest ship

Pioneering Spirit is an entity that arouses admiration wherever it appears. This floating giant is 382 meters long and 124 meters wide, making it the largest ship in the world. Built for the most difficult tasks, it specializes in the installation and dismantling of mining platforms and the laying of subsea pipelines. Currently, it is also increasingly used in renewable energy projects.

Pioneering Spirit has an advanced lifting system on board that enables the transportation and assembly of huge structures, such as transformer stations and platform foundations. The ship belongs to the Swiss company Allseas, which has been implementing the most demanding maritime projects in the world for years.

Millimeter operation. The ship must... partially sink

Before Pioneering Spirit begins its mission in the Baltic Sea, it will face an extremely difficult maneuver. On the way to the German part of the Baltic Sea there is a bridge over the Great Belt, one of the most important bridges in Denmark, connecting the islands of Zealand and Funen. The clearance under the bridge does not allow such a huge vessel to pass freely.

To overcome this obstacle, it will be necessary to significantly increase the ship's draft. For this purpose, a huge amount of water will be pumped into special ballast tanks. Thanks to this, the ship's hull will sink even deeper into the sea, and the height of the above-water part will decrease enough for the Pioneering Spirit to safely pass under the bridge. The entire operation will require incredible precision and coordination.

Target: Gennaker. The giant will power one million households

After overcoming the obstacle, Pioneering Spirit will head to the German coast, near the town of Darß. The main part of the mission will begin there - the transport and installation of two marine transformer stations for the emerging Gennaker wind farm. Each of these stations is a huge structure that constitutes the heart of the energy transmission system from the wind farm to land.

The Gennaker farm will be the largest installation of this type on the German part of the Baltic Sea. Its target capacity is as much as 976.5 megawatts, which will power up to one million German households. The total investment value exceeds EUR 3 billion, and the completion of construction and launch of the farm is planned for the end of 2028.