Belgian dredging and offshore energy giant Jan De Nul has ordered the world’s biggest cable-laying vessel to be built, with a carrying capacity of 28 000 tons and capable of embedding power cables in the ocean floor some 3 000 meters deep.

The new ship, to be delivered in 2026, will carry the name of ‘Fleeming Jenkin’ to honor a British active pioneer in offshore cable installation, Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885), born in England and a Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

Double capacity

The Fleeming Jenkin will be equipped with three cable carousels and a significant hold for fiber optic cables, capable of laying up to four cables simultaneously. Two carousels are mounted on the deck, and a third is below. The 28 000 capacity is double that of any other cable-laying vessel on the market, De Nul says.

The ship will have the latest dynamic position system to keep it precisely on location when laying the cables. The DP2 system, as it is called, has redundancy so that no single fault in an active system will cause the system to fail. It enables the vessel to operate steadily in deep but also in shallow waters, thanks to an additional third bow thruster.

Top in-house technology

The ship will be the top of technology the Belgian dredger and offshore energy specialist has developed over the years. “Fleeming Jenkin bundles all the cable installation expertise we’ve gained over the past decade,” says Wouter Vermeersch, Manager Offshore Cables.

“Our in-house specialists design this vessel and technologies on board. In 2013, we changed the power cable installation market by introducing our cable-laying ship, Isaac Newton, with higher carrying capacities than available on the market. We continue our pioneering entrepreneurship today by ordering the world’s most advanced cable-laying vessel.”

Ulta-low-emission vessel

According to Jan De Nul Group, the ship is to be an Ultra-Low-Emission vessel (ULEv), with 99% of nanoparticles from emissions removed by using a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and a selective catalytic reduction system (SCR) for NOx.

Jan De Nul’s offshore installation fleet will count four robust and diverse cable-laying vessels next to two offshore jack-up installation vessels, three floating crane installation vessels, five rock installation vessels, and two multipurpose vessels.