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MARKETS U.S.OFFSHORE WIND ~5.5 GW of commercial wind farm capacity is be- immediate opportunity.

ing built. Offshore construction works are advancing Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is building the frst Jones on Vineyard 1, Revolution, CVOW-C, Sunrise and will Act compliant purpose-built wind farm fallpipe rock in- start on Empire Wind 1 in early April, and site assess- stallation vessel, the Acadia. Originally estimated to cost ment for future developments continues in other off- around $197 million, the current cost estimate for the shore leases. vessel which is being built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard is close to $250 million. The vessel will be delivered too late for its planned frst assignment, foundation prepa-

What does this mean for the maritime supply chain?

Offshore wind construction and O&M vessels were ration at Empire Wind, where work will be undertaken previously designated as vessels of “national interest”, by Great Lakes’ partner Van Oord. The delivery date for meaning they received priority treatment for preferential the vessel has slipped from November 2024 to Septem- fnancing terms under the Federal Ship Financing Program ber 2026. The vessel is contracted to work at Ørsted’s (MARAD Title XI). It is unclear how this program will be Sunrise Wind and a further unnamed permitted project. managed going forward but it is assumed that the priority Given the current vessel delivery delays and challenges will no longer be on offshore wind vessels. to permitted projects, this vessel may still face signifcant

While there remains space for foreign fag construction utilization risks.

vessels, mainly for turbine and foundation installation and Pricing challenges have also impacted the logistics segment. cable lay, much of the offshore wind market in the USA is Three tier one SOVs are being built by ECO (two) restricted to Jones Act vessels. and F incantieri Bay Shipbuilding (one). These vessels

One Jones Act compliant WTIV (WTIV Charybdis), currently have secured long-term contracts for permit- one scour protection vessel (Acadia), three Tier 1 SOVs ted projects with offtakes, which currently provides uti- (two ECO new builds, one for Ørsted’s Northeast Cluster lization mitigation. If off-hire, it is anticipated that these and one for Empire Wind, and one Fincantieri Bay vessel vessels would struggle to fnd proftable utilization. The for Dominion’s CVOW-C), one Tier 2 SOV (a Hornbeck vessels are reported to cost ~$97-168 million. Similar

SOV conversion) and 38 CTVs (excluding around options spec SOVs contracted in Europe in the same period were and SOV daughter craft) are currently either operational priced at ~$62-69 million.

or are being built. U.S. CTV pricing is indicated at ~$12-15.5 million per

Further, ongoing construction of windfarms in the vessel with a construction cycle time of at least 12 months

Northeast Atlantic has resulted in numerous short – and per v essel (and as much as 15-20 months). By comparison, medium-term vessel charters for vessels holding a U.S fag, leading Southeast Asian yards will sell European specifca- including tugs, AHTSs, PSVs, MPSVs and OSVs, many tion CTVs for around ~$6 million per vessel, with build from the Gulf of Mexico oil & gas feet. cycles of 8-10 months and capacity to produce 10 ves-

However, the uncertain outlook for the Jones Act wind sels a year. The challenge for much of CTV feet will be feet is not so positive. redeployment. Over one quarter of the feet has secured

The cost of Dominion’s WTIV Charybdis is forecast to long-term operations support charters, with the remaining rise to around $625 million by time of delivery (at least delivered vessels working in the construction and commis- one year late) versus an initial $500 million cost estimate sioning phases. As project permitting stops and challenges and compared to the $325 million cost of WTIVs con- to existing permitted projects and leases increases, the uti- tracted in Asian yards with similar specifcations in the lization outlook is not positive.

same period. The WTIV will initially be busy with the construction of 176 turbine CVOW project, but there-

Wait and See after opportunities outside of new construction and ma- While it would be easy to write-off the U.S. wind jor component exchange for existing wind turbines are market, there remain short- and mid-term opportuni- potentially limited. The Charybdis could possibly take ties. As long as developer confdence in the market can work in the European segment if the market supply tight- sustain, the longer-term opportunity continues to have ens and rates increase suffciently, although this is not an great potential.

26 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM