MassCEC Unveils Plans to Upgrade New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal

August 16, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) plans to expand and upgrade the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, the state’s first terminal to serve the offshore wind industry.

The terminal, spanning 30 acres (121,406 square metres), is built and operated by MassCEC and houses the construction, assembly, and deployment operations for offshore wind projects.

According to MassCEC, the expansion is needed to maintain and increase Massachusetts’s competitiveness in the offshore wind industry. With the upgrade, the terminal will be able to provide facilities that will support the anticipated increased demand for port facilities that can deploy the larger, heavier offshore wind turbine components.

“One of MassCEC’s top priorities is to support the growing offshore wind industry in Massachusetts through the strategic development of port infrastructure”, said Emily Reichert, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO. “The New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal has provided the area necessary to stage one of the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind projects, and this expansion will position the site as a long-term clean energy asset for the Commonwealth”.

To upgrade and expand the terminal, MassCEC will acquire four abutting properties, redevelop an existing legacy bulkhead with a new high-bearing capacity quayside, and relocate and build a new office and warehouse building.

Once completed, the expansion will see a 24 per cent increase in the available heavy-lift storage area, an increase in the total heavy-lift quayside available at the terminal, and additional office and warehouse space and functionality for terminal tenants.

The anticipated completion date for the expansion project is December 2026, MassCEC said.

In December 2022, Massachusetts’s Baker-Polito administration awarded USD 180 million in funding for projects supporting offshore wind development, including USD 45 million for facility improvements at MassCEC’s New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

Of the remaining USD 135 million in 2022 funding, USD 15 million was awarded to the New Bedford Port Authority, USD 15 million to New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal for the redevelopment of a site to accommodate operations and logistics facility to support offshore wind projects, and USD 75 million went to Crowley to convert a vacant industrial port in Salem which will also support floating wind development.

The construction of the offshore wind terminal in Salem has now started, with the groundbreaking ceremony held on 15 August. The Salem Offshore Wind Terminal is also expected to be in operation in 2026.