It's about to get real for New York-listed Eneti.

The Scorpio Group-backed owner has signed a contract for an NG-16000X newbuilding, a wind-turbine installation vessel (WTIV) first announced last August.

The deal with South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering includes an upgrade to specifications that leads to an expanded cost of $330m, market sources told TradeWinds.

But if that development might have been expected, Eneti's move into the US Jones Act market is more of a surprise.