Jan De Nul orders second huge cable-layer
Marine contractor giant Jan De Nul has ordered a second mammoth cable-layer before its first, Fleeming Jenkin, has even been launched – showing strong confidence in the sector.
Indeed, Fleeming Jenkin is highly likely to be contracted to lay subsea cables connecting Europe with Egypt, we reported last year.
The second vessel, William Thomson, has been named after the physicist who helped to lay the foundations of electromagnetic theory, says Jan De Nul, and ’played a crucial role in the success of the transatlantic telegraph cable’. He was also a keen seafarer, Jan De Nul says.
Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, who knew William Thomson, was a British electrical engineer who worked in the design and manufacture of submarine telegraph cables.
The two vessels are enormous, 215m x 40m vessels with 120 single cabins and maximum cable load of 28,000 tons.
Cable of laying five cables simultaneously, this can be done from two 11,000t turntables above deck, a 7,500t turntable below deck and two fibre optic tanks, with three 50t tensioners, a cable-laying chute and a cable-laying wheel.
The vessels will have two ROVs with a depth rating of 3,000 metres, which gives them a 3,000m deep cable-laying capability, and Jan De Nul says they will be able to run on biofuel or green methanol when possible.
“All this puts Fleeming Jenkin and William Thomson in a perfect position to connect countries and continents with high energy production with those that have high energy needs,” says Jan De Nul. “This will allow maximum exchange and thus utilisation of green power. The significant contributions of scientists Jenkin and Thomson to the submarine cable link between the US and Europe in the 19th century are therefore a nice nod to the future mission of our eponymous sister vessels.”
Fleeming Jenkin is due to be delivered in 2026, with William Thomson delivery date not confirmed. Both vessels will be the largest cable layers in the world.
