Orange Marine to build new cable ship

Orange Marine said on Wednesday it will build a new cable ship that will be even more efficient and with a reduced environmental footprint.

It will be the first cable ship of its generation specially designed for the maintenance of submarine cables, both fiber optic telecommunication cables and inter-array power cables used in offshore windfarms.

The new vessel, will be ready to sail within 24 hours at any time when required, Orange Marine said.

It will replace C/S Raymond Croze, launched in 1983, who carried out more than one hundred cable repairs, mostly in Mediterranean, Black Sea and Red Sea.

According to Orange Marine, this new vessel will be at the forefront of new, more efficient technologies and will be equipped with the latest equipment.

It should have 25 per cent lower fuel consumption and reduced environmental footprint, with 20 per cent in CO2 emissions and an 80 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions compared to the Raymond Croze.

With C/S Pierre de Fermat commissioned in 2014, the company believes that this new French-flagged vessel will enable it to have one of the most modern fleets of cable ships in the world.

The construction of this vessel will take place at the Colombo Dockyard shipyard, assisted by the Norwegian company Vard, specialized in the design of special vessels.

These two companies jointly designed and built the last cable vessel and Vard also designed and built the Pierre de Fermat.

Orange Marine plans to launch the new ship in the first half of 2023.

“The decision to build this vessel is very good news for Orange Marine, its employees and its customers. We will have a new and high-performance tool, with a low environmental footprint, which will allow us to offer high-quality services for several decades to our customers, not only owners of submarine telecommunications cables but also operators of offshore wind farms.”