Maritime Market: Cable Layer Fleet Gains Scale, Scope

Accelerating demand for subsea power and telecoms cable network construction is fuelling major expansion of the world fleet of purpose-designed cable laying, maintenance and repair vessels.

Driven by the growth of the offshore renewables sector and its advance into deeper waters, as well as by widening investment in cables connecting electrical grids in different countries, emergent generations of cable ship are distinguished by scale, productivity, and technological intensity.

Ongoing geopolitical tensions are also giving a fillip to the development of subsea cable infrastructure, whereby concerns over energy security are being addressed through offshore wind energy and international interconnector projects, further extending the scope for specialized vessels.

Belgian international construction and dredging group Jan De Nul is set to take cable ship capacity to a new highpoint with its 215-metre, Chinese-built Fleeming Jenkin.

Scheduled for imminent introduction, the vessel brings an unrivalled 28,000-ton cable load intake to the market in a design also distinguished by the capability to operate on methanol fuel.

The first of two sisters booked with China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) Haimen yard, the Fleeming Jenkin gives an added edge to competition for assignments in the electrical interconnector and offshore renewable energy sectors. The design’s overall scale