Cadeler has confirmed its intention to double its fleet with two new-build X-class vessels for serving the offshore wind market.
The decision to expand the fleet reflects an “accelerated market demand for the best-in-class fleet” Cadeler said.
To finance the fleet expansion, Cadeler has successfully completed an oversubscribed private placement, issuing 23,000,000 new shares.
The total proceeds from the private placement amount to Nkr794m (€80m) which will be used to finance the fleet expansion.
“We maintain a close partnership with our clients to understand their future need for capacity and fleet capabilities.
“Our aim is to support the green transition by building offshore wind farms. The delivery of two new vessels is great news for the offshore wind market, Cadeler, and the green transition as we see an accelerated need for installation capacity via more sophisticated vessels”, said Mikkel Gleerup, Cadeler CEO.
Cadeler originally announced the intention to contract the first new X-class vessel in September 2020.
The new design for the modern ship was created in close partnership with GustoMSC and is a bespoke version of the NG-20000X-G design.
The vessel is categorised by Cadeler as unseen in the industry up to now; it will be able to operate at some of the most difficult sites globally and with the largest equipment in the industry.
“Since we announced the intention to expand our fleet with the first new build X-class vessel, we have seen massive interest in the market for this state-of-the-art ship and the capabilities it represents.
“This, combined with the general level of activity we are seeing in the market, has led us to the conclusion that we needed to order two and not just one of these new vessels”, said Gleerup.
The interest that the company has seen from clients has been primarily focused around the increased transit capacity which the X-class vessels offer, lowering the energy intensity of installation, reducing installation time and thereby lowering total cost of installing offshore wind farms, Cadeler said.