Foss Offshore Wind plans to open its New Bedford, Mass., offshore wind terminal this summer.
The 27-acre terminal site will support Vineyard Wind 1, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project currently under construction south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The Foss terminal will have berthing facilities for a wide range of vessels involved in the offshore wind trade. This will include crew transfer vessels and service operations vessels involved in the construction and ongoing operation of the wind turbines.
Foss also plans to station company tugboats and barges at the terminal to support the Vineyard Wind project. There will also be laydown space for 450-foot-tall wind turbine towers and 300-foot-long turbine blades.
“The successful start to the terminal was only made possible through a close collaboration with the city of New Bedford as the renewable energy sector becomes a significant contributor to the local economy and a power source for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents,” Joel Whitman, president of Foss Offshore Wind, said in a statement.
“We’re in the beginning phases of developing an industry that will bring new technologies and new jobs with new skill sets to the area that will roll out across the country as more projects take root,” he continued.
The Foss terminal is one of many under development in New England and the mid-Atlantic to support planned offshore wind projects. Examples include Crowley’s terminal in Salem, Mass., and the Connecticut Port Authority’s redevelopment of a terminal in New London.
Foss expects up to 90 specialized workers will circulate through the New Bedford site every two weeks, along with the regular flow of port workers and mariners.