Philip Lewis
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17 Sep 2026
An Update on Plans for the U.S.’s Icebreaking Fleet
The U.S. is expanding its icebreaking fleet to strengthen Arctic and domestic access, and support commercial shipping, seabed resources, subsea cables and fisheries. Current plans include 1–3 heavy Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), 11 medium Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs), seven Homeland Security Cutter (HSC) HSC-L (light) icebreakers, 11 HSC-Ms (medium) and one additional heavy HSC-H (heavy). But as delays and cost overruns on the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) Program shows…
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01 May 2026
Vessel Sector Deep Dive: WTIVs
The changing global bottom-fixed offshore wind turbine and foundation installation marketThe last two or three years have seen a change in the underlying stakeholder support for the energy transition, resulting in the energy trilemma being focused more on energy security and affordability than transition, which means a pivot away from renewables to increased support for oil & gas. At the same time, inflation and interest rates have impacted project economics.
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31 Jul 2025
U.S. Shipbuilding Plots the Path Ahead
The military and Coast Guard budgets are established that will benefit the U.S. ship building and repair sector, but what will stimulate the commercial yards?This author has been scratching his head of late, after a thrilling dive into July’s U.S. Big Beautiful Bill Act, and has asked several colleagues where the funding for support commercial shipbuilding can be found? To answer that, we need to look…
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09 Jun 2025
Maritime Batteries 101: What to Consider When 'Going Green'
In the current pathway, global shipping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are forecast to rise in this decade and eventually return to 2010 levels by ~2050.The chart represents the three scenarios for shipping emissions developed by the International Energy Agency (the IEA) and adds in the IMO Strategy targets for emissions reduction. The IEA’s aspirational case (i.e. what governments and companies aspire…
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25 Sep 2024
November Elections an Inflection Point for US Offshore Wind
We are fast approaching a potential inflection point for the U.S. offshore wind industry, the November 2024 elections.On the positive side of the scale, federal and state leases supporting approximately 63 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity have been awarded to developers on the East Coast, Pacific Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Further, this year the government plans to auction floating wind sites…
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08 Jul 2024
Uncertainty Clouds US Offshore Wind in the Near Term
U.S. offshore wind aspirations, both federal and state, have resulted in excitement about the potential opportunity of a large U.S. offshore wind market. But uncertainty, initially financially driven and increasingly a result of political uncertainty, is leading us into a challenging period, which will undoubtedly impact short-term activity, according to the latest market report from Intelatus Global Partners. A darkening cloud for the U.S.
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28 Jun 2024
Preparing for Floating Wind – Leveraging the Oil & Gas Supply Chain
Examining similarities and differences between the deepwater oil & gas and the emerging floating wind segment.There has been much excitement around the potential for the offshore wind industry to access deeper water sites through the deployment of floating wind technology.Further, there has been much discussion around the development and deployment of disruptive technologies to leverage the opportunity of floating wind.
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20 May 2024
Outlook ‘Surprisingly Positive’ for US Offshore Wind
It certainly has been an active few months in the U.S. offshore wind space.Despite some ongoing issues, the fundamentals are looking surprisingly positive in the context of what has taken place over the last 12 months. In fact, the key concern for developers and the supply chain will be any negative impacts to offshore wind development arising from the forthcoming Presidential elections.So why are…
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26 Apr 2024
SOVs – Analyzing Current, Future Demand Drivers
At a high-level, there are three solutions to transferring technicians from shore bases to offshore wind farms for construction and O&M activities: crew transfer vessel (CTV), helicopter, and SOVs/CSOVs.SOVs and CSOVs generally house 60-120 technicians offshore for a few weeks at a time, allowing them to transfer to structures on integrated heave compensated gangways, by daughter craft or on CTVs.
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22 Feb 2024
Floating Production – A Growing Segment in Transition
The specialized deepwater oil & gas and floating offshore wind segments will share many of the same stakeholders and supply chains, competing for increasingly scarce resources.To receive a full version of Inteletus analysis, click hereThe established floating production segment is forecast to experience continued growth through this decade, driving demand for, among other things, moorings, subsea systems…
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11 Jan 2024
Rebuilding the Foundations of US Offshore Wind
As we enter a New Year, the memories of the shocks to the foundations to the U.S. offshore wind segment remain fresh. In short, supply chain inflation and capacity/availability, interest rate increases, and tax credit monetization have been the key themes highlighted by developers to explain why many projects became commercially unviable.Several Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have reacted rapidly…
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20 Dec 2023
What Do MARAD Title XI Changes Mean for Offshore Wind?
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) has recently announced an amendment to the Federal Ship Financing Program, commonly referred to as Title XI. The amendments have aligned the program’s financial requirements and tests with common current federal credit and maritime lending best practices. In particular, the amendments aim to move away from inflexible static metrics and Title XI’s limited amortization requirements.
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20 Dec 2023
Top 10 Things to Watch in Offshore Wind in '24
Despite short-term obstacles driven by high inflation and interest rates coupled with supply chain issues, we maintain that the foundations supporting long-term offshore wind activity remain solid. As we prepare for the new year, let us look at 10 factors that will shape the offshore wind sector in 2024.1. A Continuously Dynamic Energy TrilemmaThe dynamic relationship of the three key drivers of affordable energy…
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27 Nov 2023
The $1 Billion Offshore Wind Prize for US Shipyards
The U.S. offshore wind market presents a $1 billion long-term opportunity to builders of crew transfer vessels (CTV) and service operation vessels (SOV) that will support both wind farm construction and long-term operations and maintenance. Unlike many of the construction vessels to be deployed on U.S. wind projects, CTVs and SOVs must be Jones Act compliant, meaning they will be built, owned and operated by U.S.
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06 Sep 2023
Floating Wind: What Opportunities Exist for Installation Companies and Vessel Owners?
Global floating wind capacity will have grown from less than 200 MW at the end of 2022 to around 61 GW of grid connected capacity by 2035. This activity will require over $250 billion in capital expenditure. Over 75% of the forecast activity is expected to come from four countries. The global forecast translates demand to a requirement to pre-lay more than 6,000 mooring spreads within the forecast period and the hook-up of around 5,400 turbines.
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04 Sep 2023
How Serious a Problem is the Cost Issue in U.S. Offshore Wind?
Much has been written recently about the challenges facing U.S. offshore wind projects, resulting in requests to terminate or renegotiate contracts to sell power to states. Examples of these challenges can be found from Massachusetts to Virginia. Coming on top of last week’s somewhat disappointing events of the Gulf of Mexico lease auction, speculation has mounted around the longer-term prospects for U.S. wind.
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29 Aug 2023
Low Interest Shown in US' First Gulf of Mexico Offshore Wind Auction
Only one of three available areas was sold during the United States' first ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.The auction, held by the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offered up three sites for offshore wind development, including one in Louisiana (Lake Charles) and two in Texas (Galveston I and II). Together, the three shallow water sites contain a theoretical potential of 3.7 gigawatts (GW).
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16 Aug 2023
Anchor Handler Construction: What to Expect as Floating Wind Picks Up
A fleet of newbuild specialized anchor handlers will be required to help build up the emerging floating offshore wind industry. But since the industry is still in its early days, many unknowns have made it difficult for shipyards and their partners to gear up to build this fleet. This article explores complex market demand and technical drivers that help give a better understanding of anchor handler…
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20 Jun 2023
Energy Transition: What is an Offshore Vessel Operator to Do?
The energy transition is moving ahead amid recovery in offshore oil & gas and growth in offshore wind, leaving vessel owners that serve these markets with big questions about energy carrier and energy converter selection for their newbuilds.What is driving the change?The foundations of energy transition in the offshore and marine segment can be found at global, regional, national and local levels:At a global level…
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13 Apr 2023
Markets: The Challenges of Developing Floating Wind at Scale
Tens of gigawatts of floating wind projects are slated for development in this and the next decade, but many obstacles remain.There has been much focus on the emerging floating wind market of late.The U.K. is forging ahead with commercial scale floating wind developments through the Scotwind and INTOG awards of at least 24 gigawatts (GW) of floating wind capacity representing close to 1,500 floating turbines that will come on stream through 2030.
