Crowley Maritime and the firms behind Massachusetts' Vineyard Wind project have come together to build an offshore wind-specific port north of Boston.

The project, in the city of Salem, is intended to serve the Commonwealth Wind project under consideration by the state government that could generate up to 1,200 megawatts of power to as many as 750,000 homes.

"This partnership reinforces Crowley's position as a total lifecycle service provider in the offshore wind sector," said Crowley New Energy vice president Jeff Andreini.

"We look forward to working with Vineyard Wind and the City of Salem and providing the highest level of service in order to make Salem Harbor a leading provider in the offshore wind supply chain."

The deal will see Crowley, through subsidiary Crowley Wind Services, buy 42 acres around a natural gas power plant and serve as the port operator.

Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, the companies behind the Vineyard Wind project south of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, will be the port's anchor tenants.

The port will be used for turbine assembly and staging activities ahead of offshore installation.

Avangrid will use the facility first for Commonwealth Wind before Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners utilises the facility to build turbines for future projects.

The agreement is contingent on approval of the Commonwealth Wind project, nearby the already-approved Vineyard Wind project, by the Massachusetts government.

The Salem port project comes amid a broader push into wind on the US east coast, as President Joe Biden attempts to meet his goal of generating 30 gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind farms by 2030.

In May, the federal government approved the Vineyard Wind project.

The push has piqued the interest of many with Kirby reportedly considering expanding into the sector and Scorpio Group-backed Eneti abandoning dry bulk for wind turbine installation vessels, including a potential US-flagged newbuilding.

Crowley had already started a joint venture with Danish shipowner Esvagt to own and operate US-flagged service operation vessels to support offshore wind-turbine installation after launching a new energy division within Crowley Shipping to focus on wind and LNG.

During a panel in March, Andreini said Crowley sees wind as an "extremely long-term" investment playing out over the next 75 to 100 years.