With the “Maersk Viridis”, the Danish shipping group Maersk is getting its first installation ship for the new offshore division. This was preceded by a multi-million euro dispute with the shipyard.
“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter as the Maersk Viridis prepares to sail to the US, ready to do exactly what it was designed to do: accelerate the expansion of offshore wind power through safer and more efficient operations,” writes subsidiary Maersk Offshore Wind in a social media post. With a 180 m high 1,900 t crane, the WTIV will be able to install the latest offshore wind turbines in the 15 MW class.
The specially developed installation vessel has already been christened at the Seatrium shipyard in Singapore. After the godmother, Charlotte Nørkjær Larsen, had christened the ship with a bottle of champagne, which was smashed at the base of the main crane, the captain and crew of the “Maersk Viridis” then gave the guests a tour of the 40,000-tonne newbuild.
Maersk launched the wind division in 2024: The Danes had separated from the oil and gas division Maersk Supply Services and founded a new offshore shipping company. A partnership was finally entered into with the US company Edison Chouest Offshore, which was to enable the company to enter the US market – with all its special conditions. The first newbuild was finally contracted with Seatrium.
During construction, however, a major dispute arose between the shipyard and the shipping company, which almost brought the project to a standstill. Initially, Maersk wanted to cancel the construction contract due to market pressure and the uncertain future prospects – construction delays were cited as the official argument. However, Seatrium argued that the ship was over 90% complete. After lengthy negotiations, a compromise was finally reached: Maersk Offshore Wind agreed to pay the construction contract price of 360 million US dollars, of which around 110 million US dollars would be paid on delivery. Seatrium provided a mortgage on the ship, which is secured by its future earnings. The shipyard is very interested in the project: the Asians want to transfer their many years of experience in building ships for the oil and gas market to the wind segment and thus tap into new potential.
The new vessel will use a feeder system for the installations so that it can remain on site while smaller units transport the wind power components. As the feeders are manufactured in the USA, the partners believe that the Jones Act requirements can be met. In addition, smaller or less well-developed ports on the US coast can also be called at.
The “Maersk Viridis” is to be used for the installation of Equinor’s Empire Wind project off Long Island. In the meantime, this was also uncertain because construction stop orders from the Trump administration intervened. Following a court injunction, however, the project was kept alive for the time being.
