Maersk Supply Service to Bring Feeder Concept to Europe’s Offshore Wind Market

Maersk Supply Service has announced a new collaboration with GustoMSC to create a next-generation Wind Installation Vessel that will cater to the growing offshore wind market in Europe.

This new vessel will build on the same patent and characteristics of the feeder concept designed for the Jones Act offshore wind market in the U.S.

The design will allow the jack-up Wind Installation Vessel to stay on location at the wind farm, while tugs and barges sail back and forth from port to collect the wind turbine tower, nacelle, and blades.

Maersk Supply Services says the concept is cost-competitive and expected to be more than 30% more efficient than conventional jack-up vessels. The concept is also less weather-dependent and will enable continuous year-round installations, which will improve operational efficiency and lower costs of offshore wind energy production.

“As the Wind Installation Vessel itself does not sail into ports, this can solve some of the bottlenecks we currently see in Europe, where only a few ports are large enough to handle the growing wind turbine sizes. We look forward to collaborating with GustoMSC on getting this new basic design ready,” says the Chief Commercial Officer at Maersk Supply Service, Jonas Munch Agerskov.

GustoMSC, a subsidiary of NOV, brings decades of offshore experience and design know-how to the partnership. “We jointly aim to further improve installation efficiencies and development economics in the bottom-fixed offshore wind market,” says Managing Director GustoMSC, Nils van Nood.

Maersk Supply Service and GustoMSC are expected to begin the basic design process shortly, with expectations to conclude it later this year.

Maersk Supply Service is currently in the process of constructing its first Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV) after it was picked as the preferred supplier by Equinor and BP for their Empire Wind development in the U.S. The WTIV on order was designed in-house by Maersk Supply Service and will work in conjunction with Jones Act-compliant feeder barges which will be supplied and operated by Kirby Corporation.

Maersk Supply Service intends to order second WTIV after securing an additional contract to install wind turbines from Equinor and BP for their Beacon Wind project located off Nantucket, Massachusetts.