Danish offshore wind installation company Cadeler said Wednesday it had secured a contract with an undisclosed client for its recently ordered hybrid F-class vessel that will keep the vessel busy from 2027 to 2030.

"If all options are called during the four-year agreement, the potential agreement value will exceed 330 million Euro," Cadeler said. In addition, this agreement provides Cadeler the possibility of bidding on the transport and installation (T&I) scope.

"Today, Cadeler announces an agreement with an undisclosed customer that secures the utilization of the F-class vessel for a period of up to four years with a minimum guaranteed utilization and a high level of flexibility for the client to freely choose to either install foundations or WTGs," the company said.

The vessel, which will feature a hybrid design, allowing it to convert from being a foundation installation vessel (WFIV) to a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) within a short period of time, is being built by Cosco in China, and is expected to be delivered in Q4/2025. 

• Cadeler Orders $345M Offshore Wind Foundation Installation Vessel from COSCO

The first task of the F-class vessel is the installation of turbine foundations at the Hornsea Three offshore wind farm startin 2026. When the WFIV has completed the windfarm installation at Hornsea Three, it will start executing on the agreement announced Wednesday.

"With an intensified focus on energy security and a global need to drive the transition towards renewable sources of energy, large developers of offshore wind farms are increasingly looking to secure the necessary business partners and assets e.g. subcontractors, installation vessels and crew for longer terms to ensure timely execution of the series of projects they have in their pipeline," Cadeler explained.

"This portfolio-based approach is also shared by the undisclosed customer in this particular case, which aims at securing the needed capacity for years to come to avoid bottle necks and delays in project execution caused by lack of assets," the company said.

Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler A/S says: “We are very happy that we have secured a long-term utilization of our state-of-the-art F-class vessel until 2030. This is a clear testimony that our vessels are a good fit for the market, in high demand and that Cadeler is a valued business partner to our clients. We are looking forward to putting our new hybrid vessel to good use in the next years while executing projects in collaboration with our business partners.”

• Cadeler to Install Foundations at Ørsted's Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm

Offshore wind vessel demand to outpace supply

Rystad Energy recently said that the growing offshore wind ambitions across the globe along with ever-growing turbines, could soon pose a problem as there doesn't seem to be enough vessels to meet the growing demand for the installation of these giant offshore wind turbines.

According to Rystad Energy, the demand will outpace the supply of capable vessels very soon, by 2024. 

"As the energy transition accelerates, demand for offshore wind turbine installation vessels worldwide, excluding China, will rocket from 11 vessel years in 2021 to almost 79 vessel years by 2030. The need for installation vessels for turbines larger than 9 MW, which was nonexistent in 2019, will grow significantly by the end of the decade and reach 62 vessel years in 2030," Rystad said.

With the demand growing, there has been an increase in orders for newbuild offshore installation vessels and new, larger cranes to be installed on the existing fleet. It remains to be seen if the pace of the newbuild supply will be able to catch up with the increasing demand.

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