Ørsted is ensuring that it has a vessel during a period where the demand for vessels is a bit tight.
The long-term agreement between Cadeler and Ørsted covers the time frame between 2027 and 2030. The estimate is that during this period, demand will be higher than the supply for vessels. Ørsted, like many developers, wants to ensure they have a vessel for their projects and strike deals like the one we just saw between Cadeler and Ørsted. Three years may sound like a long time, but in offshore wind, it is not. So, it won’t be a large number of projects, rather only a couple, and this agreement seems like an opportunity for Ørsted to safeguard its Polish project Baltica 3. Nevertheless, these long-term agreements often lack clarity, so the specific project or work type needed is not set in stone. Cadeler’s A-class vessel, which is its next-generation installation vessel, is versatile in the sense that it is not just a pure-play turbine installation vessel; rather, it is built to be capable of monopile installation as well. This makes it a vessel well-suited for these long-term agreements.
Image source: Cadeler