A marine base at Ramsgate Harbour was being constructed for servicing the London Array, potentially one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms. Ramsgate outer harbour had been chosen for the wind farm’s operational service base where a fleet of up to 10 fast catamaran transfer vessels were to operate and a pontoon was needed for crew transfer.

Becket Rankine designed, fabricated and installed the crew transfer mooring facilities using the ‘Dockmaster’ pontoon system. Three separate mooring facilities were provided, with each of the berths including a floating crane and electric tractor access for moving larger items of equipment.

Design challenges on the project were the exposure of the outer harbour and the need to permit dredger access to the mooring area. Once completed, the wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to supply 750,000 homes or a quarter of the domestic supply for Greater London.