Industry should ‘celebrate’ shipbuilding milestones for US offshore wind

In opening Riviera’s Offshore Support Journal Conference, Americas, ABS senior vice president, global offshore, Miguel Hernandez, said the industry should “celebrate the achievements made in the US,” for the nascent US offshore windfarm market.

In providing opening remarks for the conference in Houston in June, Mr Hernandez noted some shipbuilding milestones for the US, including ECO Edison, the first American-built service operations vessel (SOV). Owned by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), the US-flag SOV will operate under long-term charter servicing offshore windfarms off the US East Coast. Built to be ABS class at ECO’s shipyards on the US Gulf Coast, the 80-m SOV operates on diesel-electric power meeting EPA Tier 4 emissions standards and features a proprietary ECO variable frequency drive to substantially reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

ECO has also ordered a pair of articulated tug barge (ATB) units from Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana that will be dedicated to serving Maersk Supply Service’s wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV). The novel ATBs, which will be delivered in 2026, will transport wind turbine components to the installation site as part of a feeder system.

Progress is also being made on the first US-built WTIV, Charybdis, which was launched in April at Seatrium AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas. Delivery is slated for late 2024 or early 2025.

Mr Hernandez also highlighted the start of construction of the first Jones Act-compliant subsea rock installation vessel, Acadia, currently under construction at the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia. When completed, the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock-owned subsea rock installation ship would be one of only four such vessels with its capacity and capability in the world. Designed by Ulstein Design and Solutions as a low-emissions vessel, Acadia will have a battery energy storage system, shore power connection system, be capable of using biofuel, and sport SUSTAIN-2 and LEV notations from ABS. It will have a capacity of 20,000 tonnes. Clearly, with such a pioneering vessel, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock has its sights set on the future of the offshore wind market.