On April 5, executives from the Prysmian Group visited the Vard shipyard in Tulcea, Romania to participate in the keel laying ceremony of their new installation vessel, which is the sister ship of the state-of-the-art Leonardo da Vinci.
While keel laying ceremonies date back to ancient times, in modern times they mark the "birth" of a ship and signify that its design is no longer subject to modifications due to changes in laws or regulations. This milestone eliminates the risks of any future regulatory-derived delays and is significant in terms of the construction budget.
The ceremony included the presentation of three “good luck” coins - a euro, a Norwegian kroner, and a Romanian leu - mounted on a plaque that will be prominently displayed in the ship's command center. These coins represent the ship's three home countries: Italy (the location of Prysmian Group's headquarters), Norway (the home country of Vard Group), and Romania (the location of Vard's shipyard in Tulcea).
The new installation vessel, which is expected to begin commercial operation in early 2025, is identical to the Leonardo da Vinci. Both ships are unique in that they are the only installation vessels in the world with two rotating platforms of 7,000 and 10,000 tons, providing a total capacity of 14,000 tons to ensure the highest carousel capacity in the market. In addition, they both have a 100-ton capstan that enables deep-water installation of heavy cables necessary for energy transition.
Prysmian's engineers and technicians, drawing on their thirty-year experience starting with the platform design of the Giulio Verne, followed by the newer Cable Enterprise, Ulisse, and Barbarossa I, designed the new vessel with input from the group.
By expanding its installation fleet to six vessels, Prysmian aims to maintain its market share amid rising demand for cables in new markets such as the United States, where it is building a new cables factory in Brayton Point, Massachusetts.