10 August 2026

by Caren Hsiao | APAC Manager | G+

Over the past few months, G+ has held a series of workshops in Taiwan, Korea and Japan as part of its APAC Mechanical Lifting workstream. These events have explored how the principles set out in the G+ Governance of Mechanical Lifting Operations guidance (EI 3584), which was developed with IMCA’s participation and fully aligned to support the more technical content in IMCA’s LR 006, can be implemented across the APAC region.

The workstream was established in recognition of the practical challenges experienced when applying international good practice in APAC. Such challenges can include:

  • Differences between national regulations and international standards
  • Reliance on local contractors with varying levels of exposure to international guidance
  • Capability gaps in competence and training
  • Challenges around languages in an international team and workforce capacity.

Importantly, the purpose is not simply to apply an existing model to the markets, rather to understand how good practices translate into different regulatory and operational contexts, while identifying approaches to strengthen G+ practices and the wider offshore wind industry globally.

The lifting in APAC workstream is therefore focused primarily on the people and systems rather than equipment: understanding how roles and responsibilities are defined, what competence is required, how training and certification are approached, and how lifting activities are governed and managed within organisations.

Rather than recommending a particular training or certification scheme, the aim is to better understand current practice across the region, identify where gaps may exist in relation to EI 3584, and explore what capabilities are needed to support effective implementation.

To support this work, G+ brought together members, EPC contractors and relevant institutes through three workshops. The first was held virtually in Taiwan, followed by hybrid workshops in Korea and Japan in July 2026. Each followed a broadly consistent format, with minor adjustments made between sessions to reflect lessons and discussion from the previous workshop.

In Taiwan, a case study from Omterra (Siemens Gamesa) provided a practical perspective on personnel arrangements and how competent persons are identified within lifting operations.

The Korea workshop, supported by a Korean expert from the Busan offshore wind project, allowed participants to explore lifting categorisation and associated competence and capability needs in greater detail. Meanwhile, in Japan, discussion supported by Toyo Construction highlighted a somewhat different context, where domestic regulations and certification frameworks are more comprehensive in scope, while being less specific in defining individual roles, responsibilities and competence requirements in offshore wind.

Across the three workshops, several recurring themes were raised. Language and communication remain an important consideration, particularly where international terminology does not translate neatly into local industry practice. Participants also discussed the difficulty of adopting international standards where there is limited familiarity with them, or where it is unclear what the minimum level of implementation should look like in practice.

These discussions have provided valuable input into the next stage of the workstream. The information gathered through the workshops is now being reviewed and analysed alongside relevant frameworks. The workshops also demonstrated the value of bringing different parts of the industry together to compare approaches and openly discuss implementation challenges.

A post-workshop recap will follow, and the results of the wider workstream will be shared and published in due course.