Shipbuilder and designer Vard, part of Fincantieri, said Friday that it had secured a contract to design and build a cable laying vessel for NCT Offshore in Denmark.
The VARD 9 01 design vessel is designed by Vard Design in Ålesund, Norway. The hull will be built at Vard Tulcea in Romania, while the final outfitting, commissioning, and delivery will be carried out by one of Vard’s shipyards in Norway.
The cable layer, which will be about 95 meters long and have a beam of about 21,5 meters, is scheduled for delivery in Q4 2024.
The vessel will feature cable installation equipment, including cable carousels for taking a total of 4 500 tons of cables.
For improved sustainability, the vessel will be equipped with a complete SeaQ power and control package, encompassing batteries, switchboards, and shore connection, allowing for a reduction in fuel consumption and increased operability.
All this will be operated from the SeaQ bridge. Further, the vessel will be fitted with two main cable tanks, T-ROV hangar, walk-to-work system. It will be prepared for a large A-frame and single-cabin accommodation for 60 persons.
The vessel will have a bollard pull of over 60 tons, maximum transit speed will exceed 14 knots. It will feature single cabins for 60 pax.
The vessel will be equipped with a DP2 system as the primary activities are inter-array cable installation, with the capability of cable repair/maintenance and fiber optic cable installation built into the design and fitting of the vessel.
Head of Legal & Projects at NCT Offshore, Alexander Cortes, expresses his satisfaction and excitement about the choice of the Vard 9 01 as the basis for its new cable layer, and further notes that: “This is the second time in the span of 12 months that we have signed a contract with VARD for the delivery of a vessel. Based on how well the past delivery was handled, it was an obvious choice for us to approach them with this second requirement. We are very satisfied to have concluded this contract, and we expect further extended collaboration with VARD.”
Vard's subsidiary Vard Electro is also involved in the project through deliveries of SeaQ equipment and solutions.
Vard Accommodation delivers HVAC-R and interior concepts.
Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing in VARD, Roy Arne Stavik, thanks NCT Offshore and says that this contract shows how well the market has received the VARD 9 01 design: “We are very pleased to again sell a VARD 9 01 design in an upgraded version targeting renewables and fiber optics work and continue our relationship with NCT Offshore. They first came to us last year when they bought a PSV of VARD 1 08 design. We do appreciate them coming back to us with this new build project.”
The news of the cable layer contract comes just days after Vard's parent company Fincantieri said that Vard had secured a contract to build a cable layer for an unnamed "international shipping company." The vessel specifications shared by Vard on Friday, correspond to those shared earlier by Fincantieri. Vard subsequently confirmed for Offshore Engineer that this is the same vessel.