Further Boost To Prysmian Cableship Fleet

One of the ships will be an evolution of the deepwater Monna Lisa type currently under construction by VARD, the Norwegian subsidiary of the Fincantieri organisation, and the other vessel will be based on Prysmian’s shallow-water cable layer Ulisse, which was converted from a flat top barge in 2015.

The latest deepwater newbuild has also been entrusted to VARD, with stipulated delivery in the final quarter of 2026, and an expected operational debut at the beginning of 2027, some two years after the planned commissioning of the Monna Lisa.

Incorporating the VARD 9-18 design, the vessel will be some 185m in length and 34m in breadth, equipped with three carousels providing for a total 19,000t of cable. The ship will thereby rank among the highest cable loading capacity vessels in the market. Such an intake benefits factory-to-site logistics, raising overall project efficiency.

The VARD 9-18 specification embraces DP3 dynamic positioning, and a bollard pull in excess of 180t, allowing execution of complex installation assignments involving simultaneous lay and burial of up to four cables, with a variety of ploughs.

The contract value is around EUR230m($252m), and represents the third in a series of Prysmian newbuilds from VARD. The business association began with the 171m Leonardo da Vinci, which was handed over in 2021. Incorporating two carousels sized for 10,000t and 7,000t of cable, feeding independent laying lines, the Leonardo da Vinci has six main gensets driven by Wartsila medium-speed engines delivering electrical energy to three Azipod propulsors.

A second, similar ship booked with VARD in November 2022, the nascent Monna Lisa, is due to be ready in the opening quarter of 2025. As with the Leonardo da Vinci, the vessel will have the capability to work to depths of 3,000m or more. Hull construction has been allocated to VARD Tulcea in Romania, while final outfitting, commissioning and delivery will be undertaken at Soviknes, one of the shipbuilder’s Norwegian yards, and similar arrangements will be effected for the newly-ordered, follow-on newbuild.

Meanwhile, the contract for the second of the two vessels in Prysmian’s latest stage of investment has been awarded to an unnamed shipyard and involves a cable layer of approximately 167m by 40m intended for shallow water operations.

While a derivation of the Ulisse design concept, the newbuild is substantially larger both dimensionally and as regards loading capacity. Two carousels, one of which will be split into two concentric sections, will carry a maximum, total 10,000t of cable. DP2 positioning and seakeeping and an eight-point mooring configuration will better ensure laying and burial work continuity in harsh environmental conditions.

The existing Ulisse had been purchased from EOS Maritime as a flat top barge and converted into a 120m x 33m cable layer at the PaxOcean yard in Singapore.

Both of the newly contracted vessels have been specified with high-voltage connection systems so as to allow ‘clean’ energy to be drawn from the shoreside grid when loading cable. The larger, deepwater ship, as with the Leonardo da Vinci and Monna Lisa, will also feature a battery installation, conferring a hybrid power setup.