Mayflower Wind Orders Hybrid Electric Crew Transfer Vessel

Mayflower Wind, a 50/50 joint venture between Shell New Energies US and Ocean Winds, has signed an agreement with Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding/Duclos Corporation for the specification, design, and manufacture of a Jones Act-compliant, hybrid diesel electric crew transfer vessel (CTV).

The multi-party agreement, which also includes Incat Crowther, BAR Technologies, Corvus Energy, and ABS as collaborators, will proceed if the developer is awarded a contract under the latest Massachusetts procurement for offshore wind.

The work on the vessel design will be taking place during 2022-2023, with the construction and launch of the hybrid CTV planned for the mid 2020’s, when the wind turbines installed by Mayflower Wind are planned to start operating.

Incat Crowther is the designer of the hybrid electric vessel, which will be based upon one of its CTVs already in service in Europe and customised to suit local requirements, the developer said.

ABS will provide design review for Approval In Principle, verification of applicable rules, standards and US Coast Guard Regulations, and Classification of the CTV. BAR Technologies will deliver its Foil Optimized Stability System for fuel savings and reduced vertical accelerations, and its Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling and simulation that can optimise the hull and foils to reduce the drag and increase fuel efficiency. Corvus will supply the onboard battery energy storage solution.

According to Mayflower Wind, the design of the CTV utilises technologies that will provide significant fuel savings and emissions reductions, including the use of Lithium-Ion battery energy storage to create a hybrid vessel that will be a bridge to full electrification.

“Mayflower Wind aims to develop the most innovative, fuel-efficient CTV built in the United States”, said Michael Brown, CEO of Mayflower Wind. “Ensuring that this vessel is constructed at a shipyard in Somerset is a big boost to the Massachusetts maritime economy and launches this shipyard toward a new and growing market”.

Brown noted that by encouraging local shipyards such as Gladding-Hearn to establish themselves as ship builders for the offshore wind industry, Mayflower Wind is working to foster a local maritime supply chain.

“This is not just an agreement with a local shipyard – it is integration of that shipyard into a collaboration with the most sophisticated and capable technology providers and designers in the world, moving this key local supplier to the forefront of its industry and setting them in a position to compete successfully on the global stage.”