Cadeler shrugs off US vessel concerns and vows to help Orsted through 'sad situation'

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management cited “national security” concerns when it issued a stop work order against the 704MW Revolution Wind project late Friday. The order came at a time when 45 of a total 65 Siemens Gamesa turbines had so far been installed off Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Orsted was once again in the eye of the storm as markets digested the impacts of yet another financial hit on the company.

Cadeler CEO Mikkel Gleerup also found himself fielding questions about the Revolution Wind project when he presented otherwise sturdy first-half earnings results to analysts.

The vessel is currently on location on the Revolution Wind project and is also scheduled to work on Orsted’s 924MW Sunrise Wind array when that New York wind farm reaches the turbine installation phase next year.

The Wind Scylla is designed for the bottom-fixed wind farms in up to 65 metres of water and for handling larger turbines, and is considered one of the most advanced units in the world.

“It's a very new situation for everyone and we are working with our client as much as we can” he said.

But Gleerup, whose company clinched another long-term vessel contract in Taiwan last week, stressed that the US currently represents a relatively small portion of the company’s exposure, while other markets continue to offer robust long-term prospects.

“At the moment, we are engaging with the client, and doing what any prudent contractor would do. We are trying to understand how we best can support them in this situation.”

Gleerup said Cadeler remains committed to Revolution Wind and follow-on projects describing a resumption of installation work as the “only logical outcome”.

But he also acknowledged that the only real reference for assessing how and when the project might come back was Equinor’s 810MW Empire Wind project, which was halted by a similar stop order in April.

"We are in dialogue with our clients. The only reference point we have is Empire Wind and that was halted for around about a month or so, and then it was restarted again," Gleerup told analysts.

"The question is, will the same happen here? Nobody knows at the moment. We have said to our clients that we are looking to support them to the degree we can with the installation of the project.

"That's the only logical outcome of this... that Revolution is completed and providing clean energy to the citizens of the US... but I think that nobody really knows today what's happening."

Gleerup dismissed the suggestion that the Wind Scylla vessel might be mobilised for alternative work with the stop-order effect “unless the client wants to do something different”.

He confirmed that the company has good contractual protection in place for any drastic outcomes on Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind and added that the company would be confident about recycling the vessel onto the market if the need came

But he stressed that was something that "he did not believe or hope today."

"I can say that after this news came out on Friday we were called up by some clients interested to hear whether that vessel will become available. Because there is a shortage of capacity on the market today," Gleerup noted.

Cadeler’s other vessel in US waters, the recently-delivered Wind Pace WTIV, is currently working on a O&M scope for GE Vernova on Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners-Iberdrola’s 800MW Vineyard Wind project.

In its earnings statement for the first half of the year, Cadeler’s backlog of vessel contracts remained steady at €2.5bn ($2.9bn).

The Copenhagen-headquartered company reported that its revenue for the first half of 2025 more than tripled to €299m and operating income and net profit rose more strongly still.

Cadeler’s fleet reached a combined utilisation rate of 67%, with seven vessels on hire around the world, including two vessels in Taiwan and two in the US.

The company has also had three new vessels delivered to the fleet so far this year, including a newly acquired unit that is currently making its journey to Europe after an upgrade and will be used for the growing operations and maintenance (O&M) market.

Cadeler said the improvement in results was due primarily to a disciplined approach to operational costs and growing returns from its O&M services.

Gleerup acknowledged that Cadeler, as the world’s leading supplier of installation vessels for offshore wind projects, has to deal with some of the same headwinds that affect the wider industry.

He said such challenges may become more pronounced around 2027 and 2028, before easing again towards the end of the decade.

"But overall we are delivering in this quarter, and that's what we will continue to do. That's how you build a resilient business. You continue to deliver as strong results as you can with what you have."

Last week, Cadeler announced that it had signed a firm contract with Synera Renewable Energy (SRE) for the transportation and installation (T&I) of 35 Siemens Gamesa 14MW wind turbines at the Formosa 4 Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan.

Gleerup said that the company is already bidding for work for the vessels that would have worked on the Hornsea 4 project.

"We would have loved Hornsea 4 to go ahead because it would have offered lots of synergies for us and the client. But we have not thrown in the towel because Hornsea 4 went into a delay... because I think it's a delay rather than a cancellation," he said.

"We always work on a strategy where we have alternative plans. So it was a sad day when Orsted decided to delay it, but the very next day we were back in business again and working on the alternatives."

Gleerup also stressed that Cadeler also works to keep what he called a "very, very high level of final investment decisions" in its backlog, with the proportion currently standing at 97%.

"We are focusing not only on adding to the backlog but also ensuring the quality of projects," he said.

"But we are pleased that we have been able to maintain the backlog at its current level after the delay of Hornsea 4."