Nexans cuts first steel for its cable layer C/S Aurora

French offshore cabling specialist Nexans on Monday saw the first steel cutting ceremony for its new DP3 cable laying vessel, the C/S Aurora.

The hull is being built at Crist, Poland, while the engineering, outfitting and system integration, equipment preparations, testing, sea trials and finalizing will be carried out at Ulstein Verft, Norway. The ST-297 CLV is designed by Skipsteknisk.

Knut Flage, Vessel Operations Manager in Nexans, started the steel cutting process in the presence of representatives from Nexans, Crist and Ulstein Verft.

“This is a proud moment for Nexans and an important milestone for the organization. With this modernization we will further strengthen our ability to deliver green power for the future”, said Vincent Dessale, Senior Executive VP Subsea and Land Systems Business Group at Nexans.

“Aurora will play a key role in the installation of our cutting-edge submarine cables to help bring more energy to the world, connect offshore wind farms to the grid, support electrification of offshore petroleum installations and create interconnectors between countries,” he said.

The shipbuilding contract of Nexans’ cable layer was announced in July, 2018. The 149.9 meters long vessel will be outfitted for power cable laying, including bundle laying, cable jointing, repair, cable system protection and trenching. It will be delivered in 2021.