Cable Laying Vessel and Contract

Royal Boskalis Westminster (Netherlands) has placed an order with Samsung, Taiwan, for the construction of a power cable-laying vessel. The vessel with an overall length of 100 metres and with a cable loading capacity of 5,000 ton is expected to be completed in the second half of 2012. The company has also been awarded a EUR20 million contract to lay two power cables between the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali.

This is a full turnkey project in which Boskalis will place two 150kV underwater power cables of about 5km in length between the islands of Java and Bali. Due to the hard and irregular sea bedding and strong sea currents, Boskalis will also place rock to stabilise the seabed and to protect the power cables.

The island of Bali currently suffers a constant shortage of power, obliging PLN to request users to conserve power and to schedule blackouts when existing power generation facilities are due for inspection. This project will provide enough additional power to solve Bali's shortage and facilitate the further development of a popular tourist destination, which attracts around 2.3 million tourists each year.

The power cable laying vessel design was developed by a joint Boskalis SMIT team within a short time frame and she will strengthen the group's position in the energy markets. There is demand for underwater interconnector power cables as a consequence of increased energy consumption, geographic disbalances in energy consumption and the growth of off-shore wind farms.