Shipping company boss: "We lack vessels to bid on the contracts"
This time, the shipping company wants to secure financing for the entire fleet expansion at once. This means that the eight to ten ships will be built over three years with two to three vessels at a time.Even though the plans for new Danish offshore wind projects and energy islands look bleak, there is optimism at MHO-Co in Esbjerg. Founder and CEO Mik Henriksen is fully engaged in taking the shipping business to the next level.
- We are experiencing uninterrupted growth. It's only Denmark that has missed the boom of new offshore wind parks that are underway in our neighboring countries, says Mik Henriksen to Søfart.
About Mik Henriksen
- Maritime educated from Kogtved Sailing School in Svendborg
- Apprentice at Dannebrog Rederi with sailings including West Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East
- Mate on Dannebrog's then Esbjerg-Harwich-Hamburg route
- Captain on the then Aarhus-Kalundborg ferries for the shipping company Cat-Link, now Molslinjen
- Captain on Cat-Link's first high-speed ferries from the shipyard Incat on the same route
- Captain and instructor at the Australian Incat shipyard - where he sailed new builds out to customers and trained captains and crews in high-speed ferry navigation
- Independent consultant on new builds for shipping companies and clients worldwide, including the U.S. Navy and Army
- Founder (2017) and CEO of the CTV shipping company MHO-Co A/S in Esbjerg.
"We don't have enough ships"
Both MHO-Co and competitors like Northern Offshore Services (NOS), which operates about 40 Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs), are expanding their fleets. MHO-Co itself plans to build eight to ten large, hybrid CTVs over the next three years until 2029. The ships will be used to construct the many new offshore wind farms far from the coast.
- The United Kingdom has ten new offshore wind farms coming, and the same goes for the Netherlands, Poland, and Germany. We're talking about parks far from land, which require large, high-speed hybrid vessels of up to 43 meters, says Mik Henriksen and adds;
- That's exactly our specialty. We are already in the process of negotiating contracts on several of those projects," says Mik Henriksen.
MHO-Co's current fleet consists of ten self-developed CTVs in four generations of hybrid propulsion, but that's not enough to meet the demand in the coming years.
Not afraid to build in advance
Søfart asks whether there is a risk of over-investment with such a large expansion of the fleet?
- No. Our existing fleet will help finance the expansion. We have secured contracts that cover the whole of 2025 and 2026, but right now we're faced with tenders that we can't bid on because we lack ships, says Mik Henriksen.
We're talking about parks far from land, which require large, high-speed hybrid vessels of up to 43 meters. That's exactly our specialty. Mik Henriksen, founder, owner, and CEO of the CTV shipping company MHO-Co
This time, the shipping company wants to secure financing for the entire fleet expansion at once. This means that the eight to ten ships will be built over three years with two to three vessels at a time.
- We would like to accelerate the process by launching two new vessels every eight months. Therefore, we are exploring all financing options, including external investors, he explains.
Four generations of in-house developed CTVs (Crew Transfer Vessels)
2024: 'MHO Balder' and 'MHO Boreas' (Power of Plenty)
Shipyard: Afai Southern Shipyard Ltd. (Afai), Guangzhou
Size: 36 m. x 11 m.
Standard Crew: five persons and 24 passengers
Drivelines: Four electrically powered drivelines based on nine generators
On contract for: Ørsted from February and March 2024
2021: 'MHO Asgard' and 'MHO Apollo'
Shipyard: Afai, Guangzhou
Size: 36 m. x 11 m.
Standard Crew: five persons and 24 passengers
Drivelines: Two electric-based drivelines powered by five generators plus two Cummins K38-M 746 kW main engines
On contract for: Ørsted
2019: 'MHO Gurli' and 'MHO Esbjerg'
Shipyard: BTS, Indonesia
Size: 39 m. x 9 m.
Crew: five persons and 24 passengers
Drivelines: 4 x Cummins K38-M 746 kW main engines
On contract for: Van Oord and Vattenfall
2014: 'MHO 1' and 'MHO 2'
Shipyard: Evolution Commercial, Australia
Size: 28.5 m. x 7.5 m.
Crew: two persons & 24 passengers
Drivelines: 2 x MAN D2860 622 kW main engines and 2 x Cummins 19MDKBV auxiliary engines
On contract for: Van Oord and Vattenfall
Source: MHO-Co
Being prepared for e-methanol
The upcoming CTVs will be either 33 or 43 meters long and designed to meet the needs of new offshore wind projects.
The ships will be hybrid and dual-fuel-ready, meaning that electric motors can be adapted to different generators, such as methanol, diesel, or hydrogen generators.
- We are starting with diesel generators, but the ships can later be upgraded with large battery packs or other power-generating systems. This ensures flexibility and future-proofs sustainability, says Mik Henriksen.
MHO-Co still sees methanol as the most promising fuel solution.
- Methanol, and in the longer term e-methanol, is the easiest path for us. We expect that e-methanol, produced from renewable energy, will become the standard in the future. For now, the solution will be dual-fuel with pilot fuel, initially diesel and later biodiesel, says Mik Henriksen.
However, price plays a crucial role. E-methanol is significantly more expensive than biodiesel, but the customers – who are also expected to produce the new fuels – are driving development.
- It's the chicken and the egg. Customers need to create demand before production can be scaled up, and the fuels can become more competitive, says Henriksen.
Has ramped up onshore
To support growth, MHO-Co has strengthened the organization. Six new employees for the office at Esbjerg Harbor will soon be hired, including a chief accountant and the company's first HSEQ head (Health, Safety, Environment, Quality).
- We have worked intensively on cementing the organization and our processes, so we are ready for the next expansion. This has been done with great support from our new chairman, Dennis Vad Lauridsen, says Henriksen.
Despite solid progress, MHO-Co expects that the upcoming annual report will not meet their own ambitions for 2024. This is due to, Mik Henriksen says, lower rates in 2024 than expected and the company's significant organizational growth over the past two years.
- We have been pressured on the organization, but the improvements we have made prepare us to take the business to the next level, he concludes.