The booming offshore wind market is driving demand for project cargo vessels.This is according to Susan Oatway, senior analyst, multipurpose and breakbulk shipping at Drewry who says that renewable energy poses major opportunities for the project cargo sector.The Drewry team has been doing ongoing research on the topic of tracking the potential project cargo arising from wind energy.“In 2021 there was a reported 31% increase in seaborne trade in likely project cargo around offshore wind projects, and all indications are that this is only going to increase,” said Oatway. “While there is an outlook that the increased oil prices will lead to more oil and gas projects, and that is very possible, the longer-term outlook is that offshore wind is where the real possibility will lie. The push to offshore wind is increasing.”According to the Global Wind Energy Council’s most recent report, 2021 was the wind industry’s second-best year, with growth only 1.8% behind the record year of 2020. Almost 94GW of capacity was added, despite it being the second year of the Cov id-19 pandemic. “This is a clear sign of the incredible resilience and upward trajectory of the global wind industry,” reads the report.“The 93.6GW of new installations in 2021 brings global cumulative wind power capacity to 837GW, showing year-over-year growth of 12%. The onshore wind market added 72.5GW worldwide. That is 18% lower than the previous year due to a slowdown in China and the US, the world’s two largest wind markets. However, there was record-high growth in Europe, Latin America and Africa and the Middle East, where new onshore installations increased by 19%, 27% and 120%, respectively,” said Feng Zhao, head of strategy and market intelligence at the Global Wind Energy Council.The organisation says it expects the global wind energy market to grow by 6.6% per year on average as countries scramble to find solutions to the global power crisis. Vulnerability due to the high dependence on fossil fuels for energy supplies, along with record-high power and fuel prices, have been causing havoc – not to mention ongoing pressure to meet the objectives of net-zero by 2050 under the Paris Agreement.In Africa, the potential of wind power is being realised, and it is one of the fastest-growing sectors, offering significant opportunity for project cargo. While the continent at present still accounts for less than 1% of global installed wind capacity, it offers potential. A study commissioned by the International Finance Corporation found that Africa possessed a technical wind potential of almost 180 000 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year.Several projects have already been completed, highlighting the possibilities that exist for the continent.
