French telecom giant takes delivery of offshore wind cable laying vessel

French telecommunications corporation Orange has taken delivery of its new cable laying and repair vessel (CLRV), said to be designed for the maintenance of cables for offshore wind projects.

The vessel, named Sophie Germain after the pioneering French mathematician and philosopher, is currently on its way from Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard to France.

The CLRV is expected to arrive at Orange Marine’s base of La Seyne sur Mer around mid-August, when it will replace Raymond Croze, launched in 1983.

The newbuild vessel was designed by Norway’s VARD and is of the VARD 9 03 design for the maintenance of submarine cables, both fiber-optic telecommunication cables and inter-array power cables used for offshore wind farms.

The cable layer is 100 meters long, has a beam of 18.8 meters and a deadweight capacity of 1,800 DWT, can achieve a speed of 14.5 knots and has accommodation facilities for 76 persons. It has three cable tanks to carry fiber optic and power cables, one of which is fitted with a carousel system. 

This is Colombo Dockyard’s first-ever CLRV to be delivered to the European market from Sri Lanka.

To remind, Orange revealed at the end of 2020 that it was targeting the offshore wind sector with the order of a cable vessel specially designed for the maintenance of submarine cables, including inter-array cables used on offshore wind farms.

”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,” Didier Dillard, CEO of Orange Marine, said at the time.