Crowley, a US-based shipping leader, and the danish ESVAGT will partner up in a joint venture to expand services and capacity of the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry. The partnership will specifically bolster purpose-built Jones Act vessels to be available and support the U.S. market.
Firstly, the partnership will bring together two of the world’s most well-positioned maritime solutions providers. Consistent with the Jones Act, Crowley will own and operate the new vessels, while Crowley and ESVAGT together will share the economics of the joint venture.
Secondly, ESVAGT on its own will provide technical advice on the design, construction and operations of the vessels; based on its solid experience as a Service Operation Vessel (SOV) operator in Europe.
Thirdly, the venture will specifically work to develop a best-in-class design, and deliver the first U.S.-only dedicated vessel for the U.S. offshore wind industry. Consequently, both companies will position themselves to advance wind farm development “by directly addressing shortages of compliant vessel capacity.”
Moreover, earlier this year, the U.S. company formed its New Energy division, specially focused on the U.S. energy sector. This partnership is within the New energy division, and intends to position Crowley as a total lifecycle service provider.
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Crowley and ESVAGT will enable sustained grow for the U.S. offshore wind sector
Consequently, Crowley will now offer transportation of turbines during construction, industry-specific support vessels; also, shoreside terminaling and supply chain services from farm construction through decommissioning.
On the other hand, ESVAGT pioneered the SOV concept in Europe a decade ago; therefore, it has an unparalleled experience in safely transferring people to offshore wind farm installations. From a fleet of innovative and specialized vessels operated by highly qualified crew.
In addition, ESVAGT CEO Peter Lytzen, said. “ESVAGT’s experience in Europe will help deliver a seamless operation in the United States; and we also appreciate the opportunity to invest in the construction of these vessels in compliance with the Jones Act.”
Finally, Tom Crowley, Crowley’s CEO, said. “This partnership will marry Crowley’s transferable engineering, vessel operations, project management and logistics experience in the U.S. offshore markets to ESVAGT’s global SOV design and operations capabilities.”
“This will enable the continued growth of sustainable, greener energy solutions by directly addressing the offshore wind service capacity challenge,” he concluded.
