Responding to industry demand for insight into specific operational requirements for the U.S. Offshore Wind market, ABS has published its second highly detailed report into the sector this year.

Safety and Compliance Insights: Understanding U.S. Regulations for Offshore Wind Vessels is a response to a significant volume of inquiries from designers and operators keen for ABS’ industry-leading insight into U.S. vessel design and safety regulations.

Detailing Jones Act implications for offshore wind support vessels, such as service operation vessels and crew transfer vessels, United States Coast Guard (USCG) structure and U.S. regulations for vessel design, construction and operation, the report addresses the most frequently asked questions on safety and compliance received by ABS specialists.

“Given the significant potential for growth in U.S. offshore wind, the sector is receiving widespread attention from developers and vessel designers and operators and ABS is uniquely positioned to assist. With our long-standing leadership in offshore classification, combined with our commitment to safety and detailed understanding of the distinct requirements of the U.S regulatory environment and extensive experience with USCG, ABS is understandably receiving a high volume of inquiries for assistance. To support the development of the industry in U.S. waters, we have produced this report which brings together many of the key areas of interest and will prove to be of real value to a range of stakeholders,” said Matt Tremblay, ABS Senior Vice President, Global Offshore.

In March, ABS published an industry-leading report evaluating the U.S. offshore wind industry’s readiness to deliver the 40 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity the International Energy Agency estimates will be installed by 2040. Offshore Wind Report, Positioning for U.S. Expansion: U.S. Ports and Vessels Innovation, assessed U.S. port infrastructure, availability of specialist support tonnage as well as looking at emerging industry trends and challenges for the growing U.S. offshore wind market. Download a copy of Offshore Wind Report, Positioning for U.S. Expansion: U.S. Ports and Vessels Innovation here.

ABS will class the first Jones Act compliant wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) under construction at Keppel Amfels for Dominion Energy and the first Jones Act compliant service operation vessel (SOV) to be built at Edison Chouest for Ørsted and Eversource. These vessels will join the first ABS-classed crew transfer vessel (CTV) in the U.S., Windserve Odyssey. ABS has also issued approval in principle for a series of wind support vessels, such as WTIVs, SOVs, feeder vessels and CTVs from U.S. and European designers.

ABS offers a classification roadmap from concept, basic design and detailed design to construction and in-service operation of the wind farm support vessels. At each stage, ABS conducts an independent review of the submitted documents with respect to various design aspects including hull structures, safety, system, and stability. ABS provides classification services for a range of wind farm vessels and the certification of the installed equipment that will assist owners, operators, designers, shipyards, and manufacturers in meeting Class Rules and safety requirements for compliance with international and U.S. regulations.