Arne Blystad's OHT has criticised the cost of rival Eneti's $330m new wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV).

The former Scorpio Bulkers firmed up a contract for the ship at South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering earlier this month.

The NG-16000X newbuilding was first announced in August 2020 at a cost of up to $290m, but TradeWinds has reported that specifications have since been upgraded.

OHT pointed to its own Vind 1 WTIV newbuilding on order at China Merchants Industry Holdings (CMHI) in China as better value, saying the unit "compares favourably" with the $330m ship.

"The added one turbine set that the latter unit can carry does not in management's view provide a satisfactory return for the added investment cost," OHT said.

OHT ordered its vessel last November. Both units are due in 2023.

Tender frustration

The Norwegian company admitted it has been "somewhat frustrated" by delays in offshore wind contract awards, compared to developers' previous plans.

However, the company said: "We are confident that they soon will be forced to conclude to safeguard the overall project development plans."

Tendering activities for transportation and installation of foundations and turbines "stepped up to new heights" in the first quarter, OHT added.

"Some tenders are going through the second round, others have moved into the clarifications and negotiations phase," the company said.

All the work is scheduled to take place in Europe and the US between 2024 and 2028.

"Regardless, a number of contracts need to be placed latest in Q3 for projects to reach other milestones in conjunction with final investment decisions or auction participation," OHT explained.

Running out of ships?

The company believes many developers are gradually realising there will be more projects than there are vessels that can effectively perform the installation work in 2024.

"This is particularly relevant for monopile installation, as this activity starts early in the construction phase and there is no longer time to bring newbuilt foundation installation vessels to the market by 2024 unless construction has already started," OHT said.

And the company said that, with a high likelihood of several projects being forced to delay their development plans, the imbalance of demand and supply of vessels will be pushed into 2025 and beyond.

The wind vessel and heavy-lift ship company's net loss in the first quarter was $4.3m, against a profit of $775,000 in 2020.

Revenue was down at $11.6m, from $16.6m.

OHT expects to have an average of 65 office-based staff in 2021, compared to an average of 45 workers in 2020.