Giant Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has formed a new joint venture to move further into offshore wind vessel operations.
It has set up a new company on a 50/50 basis with domestic group Toyo Construction Co following a collaboration agreement in February focusing on developing a wind farm ship.
The two sides then “reached the decision to form a JV after study and discussion of opportunities for collaboration in the offshore wind power generation business”.
They aim to create stronger synergies in a wide range of areas related to offshore wind power, including survey planning, procurement of work vessels and offshore construction.
The venture will draw on MOL’s decades of experience in shipbuilding, ownership, and operation, and Toyo’s extensive knowledge and human resources in offshore construction, as well as its technological development capabilities in offshore wind power generation, the companies said.
This will “meet the demand for work vessels in the offshore wind power generation business, and make significant contributions to the value chain as an engineering and solutions company,” they added.
MOL expects wind power to become a critical element of the world’s future renewable energy supply.
In April, MOL said it was lining up ¥650bn ($485m) of green investment over the next two years as the first step in its latest road map to decarbonisation by 2050.
Using hydrogen and ammonia as a marine fuel will account for 70% of its planned carbon reduction, followed by LNG, methanol, e/bio-methane and methanol, which will account for 20%.
The group also hopes to garner further reductions through the use of efficient technology such as wind power.
Carbon capture will also play a part in its drive to net-zero emissions.
In October, MOL was operating the 800-tonne crane capacity Seajacks Zaratan (built 2012), on hire from Eneti-owned Seajacks, to complete a series of installations in the Akita Noshiro wind farm project offshore Akita Prefecture in northern Japan.
MOL is also aiming to expand in the offshore wind farm business through its shareholding in US-based Eneti.
