News Breakbulk & Project Cargo
“ The increased governmental support for oil drilling has been welcomed by the industry, leading to more shipments of land-based drilling equipment to the US,” Morland added.
“ Wind energy projects typically take longer to plan, finance and build, so changes in policy or market conditions are slower to show.”
On wind power, the Environmental Protection Agency( EPA) and the Interior Department’ s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management( BOEM) have already rolled back approval for two East Coast offshore wind energy projects following the presidential directive.
In March, the EPA suspended permits for the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project planned for offshore New
Jersey, pending a review of regulatory approvals. Then on April 16, the BOEM ordered work to stop on Equinor’ s $ 2.5 billion Empire Wind offshore wind development in New York while a review took place.
While state authorities have vowed to fight the Trump administration’ s decision, Atlantic Shores, part of French electricity utility EDF Renewables, and Equinor both said they were assessing the implications of the stop work orders before deciding further action.
An‘ uncertain’ environment
The development of wind energy projects in the US, much like in Europe, was already facing several challenges even before the US government’ s moratorium, shipping executives said. The US action, coupled with uncertainty due to the changing tariff regime, may also encourage operators and carriers to choose other international markets.
“ High interest rates, inflation and rising material and logistics costs are hurting the financial viability of many capital projects, especially in renewable energy, across the US and Europe,” Edwin Peh, G2 Ocean’ s project cargo director / Pacific, told the Journal of Commerce. www. joc. com June 2025 | Journal of Commerce 19