Offshore Wind Projects Continue to Add to U.S.-Flagged Fleet
The next offshore service operation vessel (SOV), ECO Liberty, was christened to officially enter the U.S. fleet in support of the offshore wind sector. The vessel, which was completed in May, has been in jeopardy after the Trump administration suspended work on the Empire Wind project, but with work back underway, the vessel was named in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 28 by Louisiana’s First Lady Sharon Landry.
The 262-foot (80-meter) hybrid-powered ECO Liberty will be homeported at New York’s South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, where more than 2,000 workers are constructing the staging facility, O&M base, and control center for Empire Wind. The ECO Liberty will be deployed to support ongoing marine construction in the lease area and eventually serve as the floating home for Empire Wind’s skilled workers when stationed offshore.
The vessel is 5,700 GT. It provides accommodations for up to 60 workers and is designed to remain offshore at the site to support the construction and later maintenance operations.
The vessel was built by Edison Chouset Offshore, which continues to own the vessel through its offshore division. It will be operating on a long-term charter to Empire Wind, which is being developed by Equinor. Empire Wind is located 15 to 30 miles southeast of New York’s Long Island and spans 80,000 acres, with water depths of between approximately 75 and 135 feet. Offshore work started this spring for the project, which will have a capacity for 810 MW when completed.
ECO Liberty is the seventh U.S. registered vessel built for the Empire Wind project (Empire Wind)
The project had been placed in jeopardy when the Trump administration suspended its permits just as offshore work was due to begin. There was more than a month of political jockeying which included New York’s government Kathy Hochul and Norwegian government officials. The permit was restored after an agreement with New York for a new onshore energy pipeline.
Empire Wind highlights that the ECO Liberty is the seventh new US-flagged vessel added to the U.S. Jones Act-compliant fleet, because of the wind project. She has a sister ship, ECO Edison, which was completed a year ago and is operating under a long-term charter to Ørsted to play an integral part in the operation and maintenance of the South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind, and Sunrise Wind projects.
In 2023, President Joe Biden attended the first steel cutting at the Philly Shipyard for a future rock installation vessel to support the offshore wind industry. At the time, the president highlighted that companies had announced 18 offshore wind shipbuilding projects as well as investments of nearly $3.5 billion across 12 manufacturing facilities and 13 ports to strengthen the American offshore wind supply chain. The vessels ranged from the first Jones Act-compliant installation vessels to SOVs and crew transfer vessels. They are being built at shipyards ranging from Florida to Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
In addition to the SOVs at Edison Chouset, Fincantieri Bay in Wisconsin is building an SOV that will support Dominion's offshore wind farm in Virginia. Dominion is also preparing for the delivery of Charybdis, the massive turbine installation vessel being built by Seatrium AmFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas. The vessel began sea trials and jack up testing in early 2025. It will be used to install the turbines at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, which began offshore installation in 2024.