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Trieste, February 18, 2021 – Vard, one of the major global shipbuilders of specialized vessels, will design a cable repair vessel for the French company Orange Marine, leader in undersea telecommunications, which has selected the Fincantieri subsidiary project.

The vessel will be built at the Colombo Dockyard, Sri Lanka's largest shipbuildng group, based on the Vard 9 03 design. The references provided by the two companies were key to the acquisition of the order. Thus, the Vard Brattvaag shipyard has already delivered in 2014 the offshore support vessel “Pierre de Fermat” to Orange Marine, based on the 9 01 design, a state-of-the-art unit in terms of environmental sustainability and equipment. On the other hand, in 2019 Colombo has built the cable-laying vessel “KDDI Cable Infinity” for the Japanese company Kokusai Cable Ship, also based on the same Vard platform.

The 9 03 design for Orange Marine has been specially designed for the maintenance of submarine cables, both fibre-optic telecommunication cables and power cables used in offshore windfarms. Vard has developed the vessel design according to the clients operating requirements with special attention to the vessel hull design in terms of good sea-keeping capabilities, maneuverability, and low fuel consumption.

Vard is continuously expanding its portfolio for power and telecom cable laying and repair vessels, developing in-house competence and experience within this segment, working with significant companies in the industry, and positioning itself as one of the most experienced ship designers of such kind of vessels.

Currently, the company has two cable laying vessels under construction, the 9 04 project for Prysmian, and the one related to the recently signed contract for Van Oord.