Cadeler in $651m turbine installation vessel pair order at Cosco

The new vessels will be the largest in the industry upon completion. The first X-class vessel will be ready by Q3, 2024 and the second vessel will be delivered in Q1, 2025. Construction of both vessels will start immediately at Cosco’s Qidong yard.

Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler says: “Expansion of our fleet is an important strategic priority to ensure that we can meet the demand we are seeing from clients for greater installation capacity. Offshore wind plays an increasingly important role in the green energy transition, and the installed offshore wind capacity is expected to grow substantially the coming years across several regions.”

Upon completion of the two new builds, Cadeler will have the largest fleet in the industry in terms of loading capacity.

The first X-class vessel has already been contracted for one of the largest offshore windfarms in the world, the 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind power park in the North Sea, owned by RWE.

Liang Yanfeng, Chairman of Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Cadeler to partner up in this exciting project, and we are very confident about Cadeler's prospects in the offshore wind market.”