Chinese shipyard construction! The world's largest wind power installation vessel has been leased

On November 5th, Cadeler, the world's largest wind power installation vessel operator, announced an agreement with ScottishPower Renewables to be responsible for the transportation and installation of wind turbines for the East Anglia TWO offshore wind farm project along the UK coast.

The total value of this contract is approximately 360-382 million euros (approximately 2.789-29.6 billion yuan), and the project work will begin in 2027, using Cadeler's current A-class wind power installation vessel under construction by Qidong Zhongyuan Shipping Offshore Engineering, as well as an existing O-class installation vessel in its fleet. It is expected that the East Anglia TWO wind farm project will require the installation of 64 wind turbines, each with a power of 15 megawatts, which can provide electricity to nearly 1 million households annually.

It is understood that Cadeler's A-class vessel is currently the world's largest and most advanced wind power installation vessel, adopting a unique hybrid design that allows the vessel to quickly transition from a wind power foundation installation vessel to a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in a short period of time. The A-class ship has a deck area of 5600 square meters and a payload capacity of over 17000 tons. Each loading can transport and install 7 sets of 15 MW turbine combinations or 6 XL single piles, thereby reducing the number of trips required for each project and significantly improving operational efficiency. It can also load some of the largest wind turbine components in the offshore wind power industry.

The first ship "Wind Ally" will be delivered in the third quarter of 2025, the second ship "Wind Ace" will be delivered in the third quarter of 2026, and the third ship "Wind Apex" newly ordered in the first half of this year is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2027.

It is understood that Cadeler is a major supplier of offshore wind power installation, operation, and maintenance services. Cadeler, formerly known as Swire Blue Ocean (SBO), is a marine support services company owned by Swire Group. It was renamed Cadeler in 2020 and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. At that time, the company's fleet operated two O-class installation ships, the "Pacific Osprey" and the "Pacific Orca".

In 2023, in response to the latest trends in the offshore wind power industry, Cadeler signed a merger agreement with Eneti, another offshore wind power installation ship owner, to create the world's largest modern and diversified wind turbine and wind power foundation installation ship company, occupying a quarter of the global market share. After the merger, Eneti's two wind turbine installation ships (WTIV) "Wind Scylla" and "Wind Zaratan", as well as the two M-class WTIV "Wind Maker" and "Wind Mover" that the company is currently building at Hanwha Marine, have also joined Cadeler's fleet.

At the same time, Cadeler has ordered 5 wind power installation ships, including 2 P-class ships and 3 A-class ships, from Qidong COSCO Shipping Offshore Engineering since 2021, with a total value of over 1.7 billion US dollars (approximately 12.317 billion yuan). Among them, the first P-class ship "Wind Peak" held a naming ceremony in August this year.