Construction on Orange’s newest cable ship is close to completion.
The Mer et Marine reports Orange Marine’s new cable ship, the Sophie Germain, has left dry dock in its orange and white livery.
The vessel has left the Sri Lankan Colombo Shipyard dry dock and is due for its final full fit-out at its base port of La Seyne-sur-Mer, in the harbor of Toulon, France.
“The cable ship Sophie Germain, Orange Marine 's new cable-laying vessel, is out of dry dock,” Orange Marine said on LinkedIn.
Orange subsidiary Orange Marine first announced it would build a new cable ship designed to help maintain both fiber and power cables in 2020. Due for launch later this year, the vessel is set to replace the 40-year-old Raymond Croze.
The 100-meter-long, 18-meter-wide ship comprises 4,000 metric tons of steel. She is designed to repair both telecommunications and power cables and is able to travel at 12 knots (13 mph). The ship will feature four generators totaling 6MW: two 2MW and two 1MW generators. The 60-person crew will be able to live self-sufficiently onboard for 35 days.
The vessel is named after Sophie Germain, a French self-taught mathematician, physician, philosopher, and expert in number theory. She was the first woman to receive the Mathematical Sciences Grand Prize from the French Academy of Sciences in 1816.
Cable ship crunch
Despite there being more than 400 subsea cables in operation or development, there are only around 60 cable ships in the world designed to lay and maintain them. After a splurge of investment around the turn of the century, there were no new build cable ships delivered between 2004 and 2010, and only five ships were delivered between 2011 and 2020.
Less than 10 of those 60 ships are younger than 18, with most between 20 and 30 years old. 19 are over 30 years old, and one is over 50; the Finnish Telepaatti, which was built in 1978.
The cable ship capacity crunch is seeing many projects delayed, and some re-routed. Last year ASN told DCD the company was fully booked until 2024. It is also forcing smaller projects to secure funding ahead of time before they can secure capacity on a vessel.
Despite the glut of new cables, new vessels are rare. Ships can cost more than $100 million to develop, and operators are reluctant to invest in new tonnage. But a number of operators are repurposing older ships to save costs.
Last year saw SBSS launch a new cable ship, the Fu Tai. Built in Spain in 2007 as an offshore construction vessel, SBSS purchased the Fu Tai in 2021 and converted her to a bespoke vessel.
Last year ASN launched a new cable maintenance vessel, the Ile de Molène, a former supply vessel built in 2006, as well as the Île d'Yeu, a laying vessel built in 2001. The company acquired both in 2021.
South Africa’s Mertech Marine last year announced the retirement of the cable retrieval ship MV Lida. It plans to replace the vessel but hasn’t made any announcements yet.
Prior to the Sophie Germain, Orange Marine’s last new ship was the Pierre de Fermat in 2014.
