Crowley Maritime is leaning into its offshore wind business.
The company announced May 30 that it’s investing in U.K.-based company Tugdock, which says it has developed the first road-transportable floating dry dock.
Crowley, said it which plans to use Tugdock Submersible Platforms (TSP) at potential locations on the U.S. West Coast, is developing wind terminals in California, Louisiana and Massachusetts.
At the Port of Humboldt Bay in Northern California, the company’s working on an agreement to develop a terminal to produce, install and run offshore wind floating platforms, use large heavy cargo ships and offer crewing and marshaling for newly approved wind energy leases.
“This important investment and collaboration with Tugdock strategically complement our vision and market-leading logistics capabilities to support wind energy development from beginning to end,” Crowley Wind Services Senior Vice President and General Manager Bob Karl said.
“Not only will we help installation developers solve logistics challenges,” he added, “Crowley will further the use of offshore wind as a leading alternative energy source by working together with our customers, suppliers, policymakers and others across our value chain for innovations like the Tugdock Submersible Platform.”
The platforms were created to launch in ports that don’t have enough water depth and assembly space to build the large floating substructures needed to support offshore wind turbines, according to Crowley.
“The cost and time constraints associated with port infrastructure developments and submersible barge suitability are major bottlenecks holding back growth of the floating offshore wind sector,” Tugdock’s director of strategy and growth, Lucas Lowe-Houghton, said.
The TSP technology helps overcome these issues, offering a ready-to-go solution that doesn’t require planning or environmental permissions, he added.
“This is a massive benefit as planning permission for a permanent facility could significantly delay project schedules and not provide a return on investment,” he said. “Tugdock provides a purpose-built permanent or temporary pre-assembly solution for construction and loadout, wind turbine generator integrations and major repair campaigns.”
