The keel laying ceremony of the DP3 cable laying vessel 'CLV Nexans Aurora' was held on 24 April 2019. The vessel is destined for the installation of subsea cables by Nexans, a global actor in cabling systems and services.

Nexans Aurora - Another Milestone Passed
Caption: Attendants at the keel laying ceremony of the 'Nexans Aurora'

Keel laying marks the start of assembling the grand blocks of a newbuild vessel.

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 (Cable Laying Vessel) is designed by Skipsteknisk.

Caption: Ulstein project manager, Hans Karsten Voldsund, on the occasion of the keel laying ceremony.

CLV Nexans Aurora measures 149.9 m in length, 31 m in the beam and has a dead weight of 17,000 t. She can accommodate up to 90 people.

Caption: The site managers of Nexans and Ulstein Verft.

“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”, said Vincent Dessale, Senior Executive VP Subsea and Land Systems Business Group in Nexans, on the occasion of the steel cutting ceremony in February 2019.

The vessel will be outfitted for power cable laying, including bundle laying, cable jointing, repair, cable system protection and trenching. She is planned for delivery in 2021.

Source: Ulstein