Van Oord Orders DP2 Cable-Layer

The new cable layer, intended to install electricity cables for offshore wind farms, will be built at Damen Shipyards’ facility in Romania and is due to be completed at the end of 2014.

Van Oord is making preparations for the Gemini wind park project which will be constructed 60 kilometres to the north of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Dutch Wadden Islands and this cable-laying vessel will be deployed at that site, among many others.

The investment by Van Oord is for a multipurpose vessel with a dead weight of 8,500 tonnes, a length of 120 metres, a beam of 28 metres and a DP-2 system (dynamic positioning). It will be equipped with a cable carousel with a capacity of more than 5,000 tonnes and an offshore crane that will enable it to lay heavy and long export cables. On board 90 people can be accommodated.

The construction of this cable-laying vessel, say Van Oord, forms part of the their strategy to offer a complete package for the construction of offshore wind parks as an EPC contractor.