After clearing the financing hurdle, Eneti believes it is up for the challenge of building a Jones Act wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV).
Last week, the New York-listed shipowner sold $175m-worth of shares at $9 each following a showdown with investors keenly aware the company needed funds to build a second WTIV in South Korea and contract for a US-built WTIV.
At Marine Money's 22nd annual ship finance forum in New York on Thursday, Eneti managing director David Morant was upbeat, saying the equity raise has "transformed" the company.
He is confident it has the ability to see the construction of the Jones Act ship through to completion.
"We've taken a view that, if you look at what the US opportunity [is], we believe there's plenty of work for a Jones Act-built WTIC," he said. "Everything we've seen on the client's side has reassured us of that."
The equity raise saw the company's shares crater 36%, with executives telling TradeWinds after completion that they were ultimately happy to just get the deal done.
Eneti's Jones Act ship is to be built at Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas, where the first-ever Jones Act WTIV is under construction, the Charybdis, owned by Virginia utility Dominion Energy.
Morant said his company has been a consultant on that project, worth $450m, giving it some experience before work on its own Keppel AmFELS ship begins.
The Eneti vessel is estimated to cost $550m, though it has not confirmed that figure.
Morant called WTIVs the "pickaxe in the gold rush" for the US offshore wind industry — which was jump-started by President Joe Biden's goal of building 30 GW of capacity by 2030 — as there are few WTIVs internationally and none on the water that meet US cabotage laws.
Some developers might feel a foreign-flag WTIV would meet their needs, he said, but some would be pushed to choose US-flag ships once on the water, amid safety concerns, the cost of the equipment and operational difficulties.
"These are expensive [ships]. You have 120 expensive guys and girls on board these vessels out at sea for up to two weeks. You have problems with older assets. This can be $1m-per-day costs across the field," Morant said.
"The demand we see for high-quality tonnage, operated to the highest standard, operating as it was designed to do" is largely unsatisfied by the market today.
