Big time offshore wind energy development is moving onto the US East Coast following the positioning of the 8,265-dwt installation vessel Vole Au Vent to Halifax, Canada for the transshipment of wind turbine tower parts, blades and nacelles from the heavy transport vessel Bigroll Beaufort.
At the same time WindServe Marine, a subsidiary of New York City-based Reinauer Group, is having the first of two crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for wind farm support built at the Senesco Marine facility in Rhode Island while Blount Boats at Warren, Rhode Island is building two 65-foot CTVs for Atlantic Wind Transfers, a company that took delivery of the first US-built CTV, the 70.6-foot Atlantic Pioneer, in 2016. That vessel is serving the Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island while the latest equipment is for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind demonstration project being developed some 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
