Italian subsea cables specialist Prysmian has announced an investment in excess of €170 million in a new cable laying vessel (CLV).
This strategic asset should bolster Prysmian’s turnkey approach, under which it delivers end-to-end EPCI projects, from engineering, manufacturing and installation to full monitoring and diagnostic services.
In particular it will support long-term growth prospects in the submarine cable installation business, strengthening the Group’s interconnection and offshore wind project execution capabilities, Prysmian noted.
Prysmian said that its new vessel is intended to be the most capable cable layer in the market and to offer enhanced project versatility thanks to advanced features like: deep water installation capabilities for depths of more than 2,000 meters ; increased cable loading capacity thanks to large cable rotating platforms; capability to perform complex installation operations supporting a variety of burial systems, including heavy duty ploughs; state-of-the-art positioning and seakeeping systems and a reduced environmental footprint.
The CLV is expected to be delivered by Q2 2020.
“This new strategic asset will consolidate the Group’s leadership in the submarine cables and systems business and will boost the capability of its submarine cable operations by insourcing installation activities while achieving on-time delivery and execution,” Prysmian said in a press release.
The Group’s submarine business secured several important contracts in 2017 with a robust order intake of approximately €1 billion developing a solid order book in excess of €2,400 million as at 31 December 2017.
Recent main interconnection projects secured include IFA2 for a submarine link between Britain and France and an NGCP interconnection in the Philippines. In the offshore wind connections market, Prysmian has been awarded projects by RTE to link three offshore wind farms to the French electricity grid.