Page 19: of Marine News Magazine (November 2013)

First contract for newly designed Damen Offshore Carrier 7500Van Oord has ordered a new cable-laying vessel. The ship will be built at Damen Shipyards Galati in Roma- nia and will be completed at the end of 2014. The ves- sel is intended for the installation of electricity cables for offshore wind farms. Van Oord is making preparations for the Gemini offshore wind farm which will be con- structed 60 kilometers to the north of the Dutch Wadden Islands. The cable-laying vessel will be deployed at that site, among many others. The vessel will be a multipur- pose vessel with a length of 120 meters, a beam of 28 me- ters and a dynamic positioning system. It will be equipped with a cable carousel of more than 5,000 tonnes and a heavy crane that will enable it to lay heavy and long ex-port cables. On board, 90 people can be accommodated. The new Van Oord cable layer is based on the Damen Offshore Carrier, a new multipurpose vessel design with a ß ush working deck, Heavy Lift or RoRo transport as well as offshore installation capabilities suitable for mul- tiple markets. To this purpose, a large volume of (offshore) installation equipment can be mounted on the vessel and the design can be adapted to create a dedicated ship, such as the vessel desired by Van Oord. www.marinelink.com MN November2013 Layout 18-31.indd 19MN November2013 Layout 18-31.indd 1910/28/2013 3:13:27 PM10/28/2013 3:13:27 PM