MOL Orders ‘Japan’s First’ Coastal Module Carrier for Offshore Wind Foundations

July 30, 2024, by Adnan Memija

MOL Drybulk, part of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has signed a contract with China’s Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering for the construction of a module carrier that the company says is Japan’s first coastal module carrier to transport components for offshore wind turbine foundations.

MOL Module Carrier — *CG rendering of the first coastal module carrier; Source: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines*

The vessel is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2026 under a contract signed with JFE Engineering to transport wind turbine foundations from the company’s manufacturing base in Kasaoka-shi, Okayama Prefecture, to construction sites in Japan.

The 150-metre-long vessel will be operated by MOL Coastal Shipping under the management of MOL Drybulk, which currently operates a 3,700-tonne class module carrier on a time charter basis to transport onshore and offshore wind turbine components, plant cargo, marine equipment, and others in waters off the coast of Asia.

The new ship will be equipped with a dynamic positioning system (DPS) and will have a flat deck so it can directly load wind turbine components such as monopiles, towers, blades, nacelles, and floating foundations, from the stern and sides of the vessel using multi-axle trucks.

The vessel, equipped with electric propulsion and a battery pack, will transport components directly to jack-up vessels at offshore wind construction sites.

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Japan currently has six operational offshore wind farms, with two of them being large-scale, the 84 MW Noshiro Port and the 54.6 MW Akita Port projects. The country had 153.5 MW of installed offshore wind capacity at the end of last year, not including semi-offshore wind farms accessible from coastal areas.

In March 2024, the Japanese Government passed an amendment to the “Act on Promoting the Utilization of Sea Areas”, expanding the area for setting up offshore wind to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which would allow wind farms to be installed further out to sea from current territorial and internal waters.