Les Alizés, the 5,000-tonne capacity Jan De Nul heavy-lift crane vessel, has been a highly visible presence at the Port of Leith, Edinburgh. The sea-borne crane is involved in critical preparations to install monument-scale monopile foundations for Scotland’s Inch Cape offshore wind farm.
It is a very visible signal of offshore wind build-out progress. Press reports, social media posts and local commentary highlight both community curiosity and industrial momentum around the vessel’s operations, underscoring the growing role of Leith in renewables logistics and heavy lift activity.
Big lift for Scottish renewables hub
Jan De Nul’s floating heavy-lift vessel Les Alizés is currently in operation, in and out of Edinburgh’s Port of Leith as part of the build-out for the 1.1GW Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm, poised to install huge monopile foundations for the project later this year and into 2026. The port, recently upgraded with the Charles Hammond Berth — capable of handling vessels with heavy lift requirements — has been receiving shipments of the huge monopile foundations ahead of installation, marking a step-change in Scottish renewables logistics.
Offshore wind press highlights that the first eight monopiles, each up to 103m long and weighing around 2,300 tonnes, arrived at the deep-water berth in mid-October 2025, with Les Alizés slated to load and install them in the North Sea.
Social media buzz: “absolute unit” in the docks
Local social media reflected public attention to the vessel’s presence. Twitter posts (now “X”) from observers noted the crane’s incredible scale, reportedly over 100m high at the crane tip. It’s an affirmation of industrial activity on Edinburgh’s waterfront. Reddit posts in community forums describe the scene at Leith as an “awesome piece of engineering”, with residents sharing impressions that the structure looms larger than surrounding buildings.
The scale of Les Alizés is emphasised in the image showing it a kilometre behind the 40m tall vertical distillery in Leith (image with kind permission of Hamish Stewart). The crane was visible from vantage points like Arthur’s Seat, the dormant volcano in central Edinburgh, around four kilometres distant (seen in the background of the inland-looking image). These posts emphasise both the ship’s sheer size and its role in handling the intimidatingly large wind-farm components.
Local and industry significance
Les Alizés is a next‑generation DP2 heavy‑lift crane vessel built in 2023 with a 5,000‑tonne main crane and a 9,300 m² cargo deck capable of supporting 30 t/m². At 236.8 m long and 52 m wide, it displaces 61,000 t and is driven by powerful azimuth and retractable thrusters for precise positioning, achieving up to 13 kn. The vessel’s hybrid, ultra‑low‑emission power plant and advanced filters minimise environmental impact while supporting offshore wind foundation installation.
The vessel has been deployed across European offshore wind projects, and its current assignment at Inch Cape represents a significant UK energy infrastructure involvement. Jan De Nul and industry sources have noted that Leith’s upgraded facilities, including heavy-lift capable berths, help transform the port into a renewables logistics hub capable of supporting multi-vessel and multi-component offshore programmes.
There is a perception that Edinburgh’s docks are not as commercially active as they used to be. The owners, Forth Ports, would obviously refute that, pointing to extensive redevelopment and repurposing, including residential development on an unprecedented scale. For the global cargo and offshore energy sectors, the activity highlights how the formerly commercial Leith Docks are being repurposed for renewables logistics, with Les Alizés acting as a visible symbol of that shift.