Training for future offshore wind farm installation terminal workers
Orlen Neptun has launched Poland’s first training course for those interested in working at an offshore wind farm installation terminal. Students of the Maritime School Complex in Świnoujście attend the class. Orlen Group’s installation terminal is scheduled to open in 2025.
– Orlen Neptun has started the first specialised training in Poland for those interested in working at an offshore wind farm installation terminal, reports the company responsible for offshore wind energy development within the Orlen Group.
According to Orlen Neptun, the launch of the training at the Maritime School Complex in Świnoujście is part of the company’s larger educational project and “the aim of the Polish Offshore Competence Centre, whose signatories, apart from the school in Świnoujście, include the Maritime University of Technology in Szczecin, will be to prepare personnel to handle offshore wind energy investments”.
The president of Orlen Neptun, Robert Nowicki, pointed out that with the dynamic development of investments in the offshore wind segment in Poland, it has become a major challenge to find suitably qualified staff to carry out such projects – this also applies to the operation of the installation terminal that the company is building in Świnoujście.
– Looking for optimal solutions, we decided that the best solution would be to launch our own training. I am grateful to the management of the Maritime School Complex for deciding to cooperate with us in this matter,” said Nowicki, quoted in the Orlen Neptun information.
The free training course is attended by students in the final grades of the Świnoujście Maritime School Complex, majoring in logistics technician. The classes, conducted among others by Orlen Neptun specialists, will last until the end of the school year. As part of the weekly lectures – as explained by the Orlen Group company – issues relating to transhipment work, the logistics of offshore lift projects and handling heavy and oversized cargo in port and maritime traffic will be addressed.
– Orlen Neptun declares that after the training, a dozen of the best students will be employed by the company. Initially, their work will focus on furthering their knowledge and skills, the company announces.
It emphasises that “through specialised courses and apprenticeships, both in Poland and abroad, the young employees will be fully prepared to work effectively at the installation terminal in such professions as logistics manager, stowage, crane operator or lifting supervisor – a person who supervises the process of lifting structures”.
The Director of the Świnoujście Maritime School Complex, Marzena Gańcza, pointed out that the training will allow students to “gain unique skills and qualifications useful for work in the new offshore wind sector.
– Thanks to these trainings, our graduates will be the first in Poland to obtain competences to take up an interesting, well-paid job at the offshore wind farm installation terminal, which is being built in the vicinity of the school, Gańcza stressed.
According to Orlen Neptun, the installation terminal in Świnoujście will open in 2025 and “will be the first investment of its kind in Poland and one of the most modern in Europe”.
– The terminal has been designed to accommodate all, even the largest jack-up and heavy lift vessels designed to service offshore wind farm projects with turbines of around 15 MW, the company noted.
According to Orlen Neptun, “The terminal will first serve the Baltic Power project, then support the implementation of other developers’ projects and Orlen Group’s further investments in the Baltic”. The company indicated that “in the future, due to its favourable location, the port in Świnoujście will be able to serve not only Polish investments but also those carried out in German, Swedish or Danish waters”.
Orlen Group is currently implementing the Baltic Power wind farm project, which the company is building together with Canada’s Northland Power – the 1.2 GW farm is being constructed on the Baltic Sea about 23 km from the shore, at the level of Leba and Choczew, and is expected to start producing electricity in 2026. Orlen Group has over 51 per cent of shares in Baltic Power. The company recently received a final decision from the Minister of Infrastructure to grant five new concessions for constructing wind farms in the Baltic Sea.
Source: PortalMorski.pl
