Shannon Foynes Port Company takes leading role in new Global Floating Offshore Wind Ports Alliance
Monday, 17 November 2025: Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) has joined forces with some of Europe’s biggest floating offshore wind ports to create a global alliance aimed at unlocking the transformational potential of the sector.
Ireland’s second largest port operator with statutory authority for the 500 km² Shannon Estuary – identified as global floating offshore wind hub of the future – has joined with Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s leading ports group, and BrestPort, the company managing the commercial port of Brest in France, to become founding members in establishing the first Global Floating Offshore Wind Ports Alliance (FLOW Ports Alliance).
The FLOW Ports Alliance will bring together major floating offshore wind ports across the world to create a global collaboration platform for sharing best practice in standardise design, exchange operational experience and promote innovation.
The alliance was officially launched at last RenewableUK’s Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen last week, bringing together major European ports that are central to the delivery of this emerging clean-energy technology.
The FLOW Ports Alliance will initially focus on recruiting ports across Europe to collaborate on the design, planning and operation of the next generation of offshore wind facilities. The group aims to strengthen knowledge-sharing between ports, ensuring that lessons from early demonstration projects can accelerate scalable, cost-effective infrastructure development across the industry.
With its deep, sheltered waters, extensive low-lying landbanks and direct proximity to world-class Atlantic wind resources, the Shannon Estuary is uniquely positioned to become Ireland’s primary — and one of Europe’s leading — assembly, staging and O&M hubs for floating offshore wind.
The Government-commissioned Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce identified a pathway of up to 30 GW of Atlantic offshore wind delivered through the Estuary by 2050, underscoring its strategic importance for Ireland’s energy transition and making it one of the leading FLOW energy generating regions of Europe of the future.
Pat Keating, Chief Executive of Shannon Foynes Port Company, said: “The creation of the FLOW Ports Alliance marks a pivotal moment for the future of floating offshore wind and for the Shannon Estuary’s role in it. With our natural deep-water advantages, strategic and low-lying shoreside landbanks, and a plan-led investment pathway aligned to national and European policy, Shannon Foynes Port Company is Ireland’s clearest candidate to serve as the national floating offshore wind hub — and a competitive player at European scale.
“Participation in the FLOW Ports Alliance allows us to collaborate with leading ports such as ABP and BrestPort, pooling collective insight and expertise to deliver the infrastructure and innovation that this new energy era requires. Ultimately, this is about working together to realise the enormous economic and environmental dividends that Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe can achieve through floating offshore wind.”
Associated British Ports (ABP) — the UK’s leading ports group, with 21 ports handling around a quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade – brings decades of offshore wind experience to the Alliance and is advancing major investments at Port Talbot in Wales and the Cromarty Firth Energy Park in Scotland.
BrestPort, owned by the Brittany Region, has invested heavily in offshore renewables infrastructure, including a €250 million offshore renewable energy terminal featuring a 400 m heavy-lift quay and 50 hectares of development land, part of a wider €900 million programme positioning Brest as a key player in floating wind.