Industry Experts Convene in Houston to Discuss Opportunities, Challenges
UTC’s Marco Poisler recently led a panel discussion in Houston to address the challenges facing the maritime and logistics industries as more offshore wind projects are announced in the U.S.
An expert panel of speakers discussed a variety of topics including the availability of vessels and vehicles needed to transport equipment, permitting, marshalling, skilled labor training, as well as federal funding for infrastructure initiatives supporting the industry and how the Jones Act comes into play with government-funded decarbonization projects.
Breakbulk caught up with Poisler on the sidelines of Breakbulk Middle East 2024 in Dubai for a quick Q&A on the latest developments for the nascent U.S. wind sector.
Q: Does UTC deem the U.S. offshore wind sector a “key” market for project logistics?
Poisler: Absolutely. There are some apparent setbacks with some of the government support in the northeastern states, but it’s going strong in so many ways – we have new investors coming in and tremendous gigawatt potential there in the region.
Q: Apart from that support, what are the key challenges for the sector?
Poisler: In general, I think the supply chain sourcing. There is a challenge with having the availability of competitive U.S. maritime assets. The Jones Act is a challenge, but I think that can be overcome as well – there are some newbuilds and a lot of local shipyards are busy with work. At the end of the day, from an investment strategy, we have to see if these will be backed and financed by governments.
Q: How would you assess the government’s target of 30 GW of installed capacity by 2030?
Poisler: I think that will be relooked at – we’re probably lucky if we get half that. That’s due to high supply chain costs that have gone up since the original financing, interest rates are higher. And I think the reality is that for many of those projects, what it costs today has set it back. But saying that, it’s still very interesting for project cargo.
Watch highlights of UTC’s panel discussion:
UTC Overseas will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Europe 2024, taking place on 21-23 May in Rotterdam. Book your space at the world’s largest event for breakbulk and project cargo.
