BREAKING NEWS!!!

Breaking News!!!





There will be no offshore wind industry in the United States without marine assets to transport components to the offshore fields for installation. This is the missing link that seems to have been ignored for the last five years.

I do not care if it’s a self-propelled barge, tug and barge, feeder, or installation vessel (of which the United States only has one to be ready by the end of 2023) – frankly, we need them all. However, unless and until this missing link of the offshore wind supply chain is put into place, the promise that offshore wind offers the United States both now and in the future cannot be attained.

Build all the marshaling ports, and plants to produce components for blades, towers, nacelles, transition pieces, substations, etc. Dream about floating platforms. Fine, but all these components and assemblies have to be delivered by water.

And here is a second reality. The only group capable of building the needed marine assets are the workers in the Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO and their associated unions. Period. These Union men and women are “Mission Critical."

Time to stop all the “happy talk” and face reality.

Time to get going.


Written by Percy R. Pyne

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