Denmark’s offshore marine services provider Maersk Supply Service is teaming up with Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) for the construction and operation of a windfarm feeder concept specifically designed for Maersk Supply Service’s wind installation vessel.
The top management of Maersk Supply Service, Christian M. Ingerslev, claims that the “new installation concept can make offshore wind farm installations significantly faster with estimated efficiency gains of 30%.”
Furthermore, as it is said by Ingerslev, “the partnership with ECO makes this new technology available for the U.S. offshore wind market enabling faster offshore wind installations in the U.S.”
The purpose-built feeder spread includes two tugs and two barges to be delivered in 2026. They will be owned and operated by ECO and constructed by a large privately-owned shipyard group in the United States, Bollinger Shipyards.
This newbuild feeder spread will transport wind turbine components or foundations to the installation site, while the wind installation vessel (WIV) remains on location to complete successive installations, allow faster installation, and thereby enable the wind park to be on-grid faster.
Dino Chouest, executive vice president of ECO, said: “This partnership facilitates expansion of our existing footprint in the U.S. offshore wind industry, and our decades of offshore experience, efficiency and focus on technology can play an important role in the further development of the U.S. offshore wind segment.”
Maersk Supply Service said that by using US-built, owned, and flagged tugs and barges to ferry turbine components, its locking and stabilizing mechanism between the WIV and barge will render installations far less dependent on weather conditions, thereby reducing the number of operating days required to install a wind farm.
Source: Maersk Supply Service
