New cable layer joins Boskalis fleet following major conversion

Dutch offshore services giant Boskalis has commissioned its new cable-laying vessel (CLV) BOKA Ocean following a major conversion program.

Boskalis welcomed BOKA Ocean to its fleet in August 2023 as a pipe-laying vessel, which was then converted into a broadly deployable cable layer.

After completing its sea trials in the North Sea, the vessel, formerly named Apache II, is now ready to start on its maiden project in the German part of the North Sea, installing its first subsea cable at an offshore wind farm.

The 2009-built BOKA Ocean has an overall length of 136.6 meters and a breadth of 27 meters and can accommodate 118 people in 71 cabins.

BOKA Ocean joins its two sister vessels in the Boskalis fleet, which were acquired in the past two and a half years and are now operating under the names BOKA Northern Ocean and BOKA Southern Ocean.

According to Boskalis, although still similar in appearance, each vessel has its own specialty, with BOKA Southern Ocean and BOKA Northern Ocean being high-end construction support vessels, busy with IRM and decommissioning work in the North Sea and offshore wind farm construction activities in Southeast Asia.

Speaking about other news coming from the company, Boskalis last month reported it had installed a new energy storage system on board its diving support vessel (DSV) BOKA Atlantis as part of the efforts to make its fleet more sustainable.