Prysmian Group, a company in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, announced the official sail out of the newly upgraded vessel “Cable Enterprise” from a moored cable laying barge into a DP2 cable laying barge able to manoeuvre on her own propulsion system at a work site.
The ship Cable Enterprise is ready to cast off for more efficient cable laying duties.
Following major conversion works, the vessel can now operate autonomously without need of tugs during cable installations. With almost 8 MW of power, Cable Enterprise is capable of maintaining her position in DP mode, even in harsh weather conditions. Her powerful propulsion system lets the vessel undertake lay and burial operations with any type of plough, including HD3 ploughs. Importantly, the vessel maintains her ability to ground out and to operate in shallow waters.
Updgrades to the ship include a new cable tank. No word on how many kilometers of cable it can carry.
Cable Enterprise has been equipped with seven independent positioning systems letting her meet stringent operational requirements, including those demanded by the Oil & Gas industry. She is now among the most powerful submarine cable laying barges in the market and has unmatched green credentials, achieving an almost 80% NoX emission reduction, as the most environmentally friendly vessel of its type worldwide.
Upgrade works also included the addition to new accommodation decks and operational areas, as well as the installation of a new cable tank to increase her versatility for future cable projects. The conversion works were contracted to Viktor Lenac shipyard in April 2014.
“Our objective is to further boost the Group’s submarine project execution capabilities with a powerful and flexible asset that can install the entire range of submarine cables, from interconnectors and export cables to inter-array cables between turbines or offshore oil platform grid connections”, explains Raul Gil, COO of Prysmian Powerlink. “With this newly upgraded vessel Prysmian is now fully equipped to meet this target”, he added.
The first project to be executed by Cable Enterprise in DP mode will be the supply and installation of submarine cables for a section of ExxonMobil’s existing offshore operations in the United States.
Prysmian Group
Filed Under: News, Offshore wind
