Belgian group Jan De Nul has ordered an extra-large cable-laying vessel from China Merchants Heavy Industry Jiangsu shipyard.
The utility company said the Fleeming Jenkin, which is set to be delivered in 2026, will have an “unrivalled cable-carrying capacity of 28,000 tonnes” to serve the renewable energy and subsea cable industry in installing cables over longer distances and in deeper waters.
“Following our previous investments in the jack-up vessel Voltaire and crane vessel Les Alizes for the installation of the next-gen wind turbines and their foundations, we now proceed with this magnificent cable-laying vessel,” Philippe Hutse, Jan de Nul’s director of offshore energy, said in a statement.
“Thanks to her unprecedented capabilities, Fleeming Jenkin will be a perfect fit for the interconnector and export cable markets.”
The newbuilding will take Jan de Nul’s offshore installation fleet to four cable-laying vessels, two offshore jack-up installation vessels, three floating crane installation vessels, five rock installation vessels and two multipurpose vessels.
Fleeming Jenkin will be equipped with three cable carousels, two of which will be on deck while a third will operate below deck.
The vessel will also have a large hold for fibre optic cables that will be able to lay up to four cables simultaneously, Jan de Nul said.
The ship, which is designed to install longer and heavier cables into waters up to 3,000 metres deep, will also have a chute for laying cable in shallow waters and a cable-laying wheel for deep-water installations on the aft deck.
“Today, we continue our pioneering entrepreneurship by ordering the world’s most advanced cable-laying vessel,” said Wouter Vermeersch, Jan de Nul’s manager offshore cables.
Jan de Nul disclosed neither the size nor the cost for the newbuilding, but it owns three other cable layers that are from 118 to 157 metres in length overall (loa), and such vessels can cost more than $200m to build, according to online valuation platform VesselsValue.
As TradeWinds has reported, Prysmian Group ordered the 171-loa newbuilding Monna Lisa at Vard Tulcea for $205m in November 2022 and expects to take delivery of the ship in 2025, VesselsValue showed.
Prysmian Group also took delivery of the 171-loa Leonardo da Vinci from Vard Brattvagg in 2021 for $211m after ordering the vessel in 2018.
On 22 September, Paris-based electrification specialist Nexans ordered a second 150-loa cable-laying vessel from Norwegian shipbuilder Ulstein Group, as previously reported in TradeWinds.
Ulstein built Nexans’ 149-loa Nexans Aurora in 2021 at the Ulstein Verft shipyard in Norway.
