Bernhard Schulte, MidOcean Form U.S. Offshore Wind Joint Venture

WINDEA Offshore’s offshore wind “walk-to-work” service operations vessel, Wind La Cour. Photo credit: Ulstein

U.S-based MidOcean Wind has teamed up with offshore wind veteran Bernhard Schulte Offshore to build and operate support vessels for the U.S. offshore wind industry.

MidOcean Wind, a subsidiary of MidOcean Marine, has been working with Bernhard Schulte Offshore since the 2018 formation of WINDEA Offshore USA, offering a single point of contact for wide range of construction support and operations and maintenance (O&M) services to the offshore wind industry. The two signed a contract to launch the Connecticut-based joint venture during the AWEA Offshore WINDPOWER 2019 Conference in Boston. 

WINDEA Offshore USA is based on the same concept as WINDEA Offshore, Bernhard Schulte’s affiliate for offshore wind projects in Europe. The joint venture combines the expertises of Bernhard Schulte Offshore, Buss Offshore Solutions, and EMS Maritime Offshore. The joint venture’s fleet currently consists of crew transfer vessels, standby safety vessels, helicopters, and two modern Service Operation Vessels (SOV) owned by Bernhard Schulte Offshore and registered in Germany. A third SOV is also planned. 

“Wind farm owners and turbine manufacturers will be able to reduce their risks by working with our team,” explains Bradley Neuberth of MidOcean Wind. “MidOcean will ensure the vessels will be Jones Act compliant and delivered as agreed. Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement as the operator of the ships will bring the learnings of the European wind farm projects into the U.S. market. We have been working closely with the Schulte Group for more than a year and the time is right to formalise our partnership on offshore wind vessels.”

”The Schulte Group has a track record of more than 550 new-building projects around the globe and MidOcean is a specialist at building vessels of various types under the local regulations in several U.S. shipyards,” said Matthias Müller, Managing Director of BSO. “Since the on-time delivery of a vessel to our charterers is critical, we are the ideal partners to support the U.S. offshore wind industry with specialised units.”

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