City ports pivoting to compensate for shaky offshore wind industry

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When the first turbine pieces for Vineyard Wind inched into port in 2023, cranes and union labor stood at the quayside of a nearby terminal, ready and waiting to get to work. In the more than two years since, the project has kept the state-owned New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal busy and funded through a multimillion dollar lease. 

But the 26-acre site wasn’t always bustling. 

Eight years before Vineyard Wind entered the scene, the state finished construction on the $113 million terminal, purpose-built to support offshore wind, a buzzy industry that hadn’t yet landed. The site expected to welcome Cape Wind as the first tenant around 2015, but the Nantucket Sound project fell through after opposition. The taxpayer-funded site remained underutilized for years, and was left to find new, and smaller, revenue streams.

Amid the Trump administration’s offshore wind crackdown, it will soon find itself in a similar predicament. As the final Vineyard Wind blades trickle out, two questions emerge: What now for the offshore wind terminal, and what now for New Bedford — a city that courted millions in investment and built out its port to support an industry that’s facing an existential threat?

In a best-case scenario, experts predict construction in Massachusetts will stall for the remaining years of the Trump administration. But the worst-case scenario: the uncertainty imposed by the Trump administration in these last 12 months may be too challenging for a future pro-wind administration to overcome, freezing development longer-term. 

For those on the New Bedford waterfront, their concerns are tempered with optimism. It’s a long game, and they’ve begun laying the groundwork to pivot their businesses for a few years until the next wave comes. 

Still, “if the president that follows [Trump] is as hostile as he is, then we may be looking at a much longer term problem,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. 

What’s next at the Marine Commerce Terminal and Foss Terminal?

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-state agency that owns and operates the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, is currently undertaking a $45-million expansion of the site to support the larger and heavier “next generation” turbine components. It includes the addition of a few acres. 

As that work has been underway, the site has largely emptied out with 61 of Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines now towering above the Atlantic. The project’s lease with the terminal expires in June.

Before President Donald Trump was re-elected, MassCEC expected some lull at the site before the next project, which is supposed to be SouthCoast Wind. But the lull has had two years added to it, while SouthCoast Wind finds itself under increasing threat. 

Bruce Carlisle, MassCEC’s managing director of offshore wind, wouldn’t provide much detail on the agency’s plans for the intervening years at the New Bedford site, stating staff have started to “put out feelers with interested parties.” 

But Mitchell wants to know. 

“There is going to be an extended period between projects. [MassCEC has] to figure out how to manage the in-between,” he said. “What we don’t want to see there in the interim is scrap metal or … other bottom of the barrel materials.”

Before Vineyard Wind, the terminal hosted land-based wind turbines, offshore wind research and survey vessels, recycled steel, ferry parking, modular building components, shipping containers, and timber piles. The terminal’s revenue was also millions less before Vineyard Wind arrived. 

Just a minute or two drive north of the terminal is another wind site, the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal — a private investment that remains under construction. 

More than four years ago, city and state officials gathered at the then-abandoned power station to announce the site would take on new life to support a new generation of energy: wind. 

Since 2024, the terminal has berthed offshore wind support and research vessels for Vineyard Wind and other projects. But it has become a bellwether of the industry’s stalling. 

The original deed required the site to commit to exclusive use for renewable energy projects. But in October, Foss and city officials amended their agreement so the site may support transportation projects and storage of breakbulk (cargo too big to fit into a container).

The new agreement also temporarily allows the Seastreak Ferry to dock at the Foss terminal while it’s displaced from the closure of the State Pier. It allows parking for ferry customers — activities that have not been part of the terminal’s mission.

“We see there will be a lull,” said Andrew Saunders, president of the Foss terminal. “We see we need to adapt to what the market is.” He stressed their preferred market is “always the offshore wind market.”

If the next generation of wind projects was moving forward now, Saunders said he’d be in front of the city’s planning board to secure approval to build the terminal’s third phase: two 30,000-square-foot warehouses for wind developers.  

But without power purchase agreements between the developers and utilities, the money won’t flow. 

State proceeding with second wind terminal in Salem

Mitchell wants New Bedford to be competitive with ports not just outside Massachusetts, but in it. So despite the hits to the offshore wind industry, he sees a possible opportunity for New Bedford amid some of the federal actions. 

He’s talking about the Salem terminal, a public-private partnership between MassCEC, the City of Salem and Crowley (a maritime logistics company) that’s been in development since 2022 to support what was then a steady pipeline of projects to be built off the commonwealth’s coast and the Gulf of Maine. 

That pipeline has since frozen, and the proposed terminal — on the site of a former coal plant — had $34 million in federal funding terminated this summer. (That funding amounts to about 10% of the project’s budget, per the City of Salem.) 

Carlisle said the federal backing was a “critical part” of the funding mix. Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo in November said it alone is “not entirely fatal” to the project’s completion. 

Mitchell asked whether it makes sense for the state to have two staging terminals, stating New Bedford’s will be available when the industry picks back up. 

“It’s no secret we in New Bedford have long been concerned about the possibility of the proposed facility in Salem competing against New Bedford,” he said. “The state has to explain why it would, at this point in the game, allow that project to proceed, given there aren’t offshore wind projects that might use New Bedford for the foreseeable future.” 

But MassCEC believes the future market — as well as plans for floating wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine — warrants a second marshaling site. 

“We’re taking … the medium and the long view,” said Carlisle. “We are positioning ourselves for when this industry gets some traction again.”

Because the floating turbines in the Gulf of Maine will involve different technology, Carlisle said, the state needs a different port infrastructure to support it. 

Pangallo, like Mitchell, is bullish on the industry’s long-term future — and his city playing a lead role in its buildout: “The horizon we see … is over decades, not just the next couple of years.”

Pangallo said the parties are exploring a phased buildout or possible redesign of the terminal to deal with the funding loss. He said they’re also exploring “other temporary alternative uses that could support the port’s operation in the interim.” 

In other words, Salem’s future terminal is already facing a predicament similar to New Bedford’s after Cape Wind fell through. 

Further complicating the terminal’s future plans: its anchor tenant, New England Wind, has been targeted by the Trump administration. The federal government has asked a court for the ability to reconsider its approval of the project’s construction plan —  a permit necessary for buildout.   

MassCEC in 2024 said the Salem site was expected to be operational by 2026. Not much work has progressed beyond a symbolic groundbreaking in the summer of 2024. Carlisle said he could not comment on the expected commercial operation date. 

“The actions by the Trump administration certainly have led to more uncertainty on the part of developers and their ability to commit to leases, and that has impacted the long-term revenue and financing visibility for Salem,” Carlisle said. “But we are actively working with Crowley and the City of Salem as we speak on plans.”

Yearslong pause ahead

In the short to medium term, there will be “quieter times” at the ports that support offshore wind, said Kris Ohleth, director at the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, a Delaware-based nonprofit. 

“I think market and investor confidence is pretty much as low as it can possibly be,” she said, saying developers are contemplating submitting permitting documents near the end of Trump’s term — three years away. 

“I would venture that the ones that started construction last year have been living in a perpetual state of fear and potentially regret that they did start,” Ohleth continued. “I can’t imagine any developer risking capital investment in this environment.”

The developers’ fears are reasonable. Two have seen their projects paused twice, costing millions in losses per day. And in December, all five projects under construction along the Atlantic coast were suspended, with the federal government citing national security concerns. 

Timothy Fox, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, believes a longer term freeze is in the realm of possibility. 

“The question is… will we see the industry ramp back up after Trump leaves office?” said Fox. “Our new best-case scenario for long-term offshore wind is that this is a pause. But we’re not convinced it is. We think the administration has sought to inject so much uncertainty into the industry that there’s not going to be a lot of interest among investors and financiers.”

Because the permitting timelines are lengthy and often span two presidencies, developers have experienced pendulum swings in the approaches of Democrat and Republican administrations. This last swing has been so extreme that it could have more lasting impacts, experts say. 

New Bedford jobs on ice

Though offshore wind is touted as a clean energy alternative, Mitchell sees the industry’s role and impact in New Bedford as an economic one. And with no project to follow once Vineyard Wind concludes its high-capital construction phase, that economic spout is expected to reduce to a trickle.

Mitchell said it concerns him, but he emphasized New Bedford never was, and never will be, a wind-only port. 

“New Bedford is still primarily a fishing port. … That said, the recent contribution of marshaling of the Vineyard Wind project is a not insignificant contributor to the port’s total economic output,” he said. “It’s created jobs, opportunities for small businesses in the city.”

SouthCoast Wind and New England Wind, the two projects planned next for Massachusetts, face threats of having their federal permits and approvals revoked. They missed another deadline to secure power purchase agreements with the state utilities. 

Each project promises about 100 jobs for the city, Mitchell previously estimated, including union labor.  

Andy Benedetto, business representative at Local 1121, which includes carpenters and millwrights, said the union was in planning talks with SouthCoast Wind on what training and standards worked best.

But in late 2025, the point person for the wind project was laid off, he said, something that’s been happening across the offshore wind industry. 

“We invested millions into training people and building this workforce that now is just going to be more or less stagnant,” Benedetto said. 

The National Offshore Wind Institute, a Bristol Community College site that opened in 2024 to train the union workforce and other industry members, is looking to pivot, like its waterfront neighbors. 

Brianne McDonough, interim vice president for economic and business development at Bristol Community College, in an interview this fall said the school “designed the use of the building around wind,” but that it can train different industries, including oil, gas, and construction. 

Some smaller-scale wind work may continue in the coming years out of New Bedford. That includes possible operations and maintenance work, and fishermen providing site and safety security for turbine installation or subsea cable laying. 

Tony Alvernaz, a New Bedford scalloper, made it clear that he supports the Trump administration and opposes wind turbines being installed around fishing grounds. But, he’s also appreciative of the work he’s found with the industry.

Alvernaz, who has worked for Vineyard Wind for at least two years, recently secured another contract with a subcontractor on Orsted’s Sunrise Wind project. His fishing boat will guard a bigger vessel as it lays cable. The job was set to start in February, but that’s unclear now that the project is suspended. 

“I won’t say I’m grateful for [offshore wind],” Alvernaz said. “I’m grateful for the work I guess. Who knows where I would’ve been without this extra work.”

He’s glad to see a slowdown as it will allow research to catch up: “Now you get to see these guys fully permitted finish their projects… the pros and cons will come out in the next few years.”

Mitchell shared similar sentiments, saying the Trump administration’s revisiting and reconsideration of some lease siting with more weight given to fishing interests was necessary.

The speed at which the wind industry was taking off under the Biden administration, and even before, often sparked analogies about those involved building the ship as they’re sailing it. Now that it’s slowing — if not stopping — Ohleth offered a variation.

“For a decade, our favorite expression in offshore wind was building a plane while we’re flying it. Now the plane is on the ground. That’s an opportunity,” she said. “Figure out how to get the right policies, procedures and regulations in place that enable offshore wind to be able to flourish in the next political cycle.”

In the real, not metaphorical sense, the giant vessels associated with offshore wind won’t be sidelined. The foreign jack-up ships and retrofitted barges are in high demand and will return to Europe or the south to support other projects and industries. 

But the local workforce, shoreside companies, terminals and smaller fishing boats that have built offshore wind into their business plans will need to pivot. 

For how long remains an open question.

Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.

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