XLCC commissions new cable laying vessel
Following a rigorous selection process, XLCC have appointed Salt Ship Design as the design partner for what will be one of the most advanced, dedicated, cable laying vessel in the world once production is complete.
The management teams of XLCC and Salt have signed a commissioning contract following the lengthy selection process that aims to deliver the new vessel by end 2024. The proposed design is markedly different to existing cable laying vessels that are in the market today and will deliver greater operability, will be more economical to run and will be cheaper to build compared to conventional design today. The vessel will have an overall length over 200m and a payload in excess of 20,000 tonnes.
Alan Mathers, Director at XLCC, commented on the signing, “This partnership is a major milestone in the growth of XLCC and demonstrates our commitment to the sector. Delivering a number of world firsts with this design, we aim to future proof our vessel with innovative and market leading capabilities, aligned to our overall organisational ethos”. Mr Mathers continued, “we have agreed the basic design, following on from the initial concepts, and will now work with Salt to agree potential future fuel and power options, A-frame design and detailed capability requirements of the vessel.”
Egil Sandvik, Managing Director of Salt Ship Design, “We are humble to be selected ship designers for XLCC’s ground-breaking project and proud that our ideas for a unique new CLV design have been adopted and further developed with XLCC and their partners. After a hectic competition and project development phase we are now seeing all the details coming together and are looking forward to move to the next phase together with XLCC”.
A key requirement of the design brief was that the vessel must be prepared for alternative fuel options to improve its carbon footprint. The final selected design will include options for alternative green fuel without hindering the overall operating capabilities of the vessel.
The vessel will operate from the proposed new cable manufacturing factories in the UK. Agreements for XLCC factories to be located in Hunterston and Port Talbot have been signed with planning permission applications underway. This investment in Britain’s new HVDC cable industry will also fuel a supply chain ecosystem including steel manufacturing, local fabrication, factory construction and fit outs, and support services for factories. XLCC CEO Simon Morrish said, “The demand for HVDC cable is expected to grow rapidly, to more than three times current capacity, over the next ten years¹. Investing in a British-owned and valuable, high growth export industry serving decarbonising economies across the world will create thousands of regional manufacturing jobs and stimulate demand for British made steel and aluminium for decades."
Once operational, the vessel will be used initially to deliver the Morocco-UK Power Project for Xlinks, a new electricity generation facility entirely powered by solar and wind energy combined with a battery storage facility. The facility will be connected exclusively to Britain via 3,800km HVDC sub-sea cables.
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