France's Orange Marine has taken a rare plunge into the offshore vessel newbuilding arena with a deal for an innovative cable laying ship.
The company said a next-generation unit ordered at Colombo Shipyard in Sri Lanka is the first to be designed for both fibre-optic telecommunications and offshore wind cable work.
The vessel, for which no price was given, is also promised to be even more efficient than existing ships, with a reduced environmental footprint.
The Paris-headquartered shipping arm of the telecommunications giant Orange said the ship's main use will be for responding to internet outages within 24 hours.
Older ship on the way out
The newbuilding will replace the 107-loa Raymond Croze (built 1983).
The streamlined hull is designed to reduce fuel consumption by 25%.
The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used for cutting, inspecting and burying cables will be stored on board in a dedicated hangar.
There will be a hybrid energy management system based on fuel and electrical storage back-up using batteries. CO2 emissions will fall 20% and NOX by 80%.
Norwegian help
Norway's Vard shipyard group will assist the Sri Lankan shipbuilder. The two companies were responsible for the last cable-layer delivered worldwide in 2017.
The new vessel is due in the first half of 2023.
Orange Marine chief executive said: "The decision to build this vessel is very good news for Orange Marine, its employees and its customers.
"We will have a new and high-performance tool, with a low environmental footprint, which will allow us to offer high-quality services for several decades to our customers, not only owners of submarine telecommunications cables but also operators of offshore wind farms."
Jean-Luc Vuillemin, executive vice president of Orange in charge of international networks, added that the deal demonstrates how much the company believes in the future of the submarine cables market.
"Repair vessels are of strategic importance in maintaining global internet connectivity which relies over 80% on submarine cables," he said.
"This new vessel allows us to be part of a long-term strategy to ensure that our network is well maintained and that Orange Marine continues to have the means to carry out its missions with state-of-the-art tools," he said.
The group has six other cable-layers.
