Nexans Electra Hull to Launch from Ulstein Dock Hall
Nexans Norway AS has made significant strides forward with its subsea installation fleet development with the mid November launch of Nexans Electra from Ulstein Verft's covered dock hall at Ulstein Verft in western Norway.This significant event marked a transition for Nexans from indoor hull construction and major systems installation to quayside outfitting, commissioning and testing ahead of planned sea trials scheduled to occur in 2026.
Ulstein Verft successfully transformed Nexans Electra from an empty steel structure into a fully equipped ship at Ulstein Verft Dock Hall during its dock hall phase, installing its main internal systems under controlled conditions to ensure coating quality and mechanical precision. Moving her onto an outfitting quay enabled yard teams and Nexans project personnel to finalise integration of power, propulsion, mission equipment as well as progressive functional testing in more operational conditions.
High capacity cable laying capability for offshore energy projects
Nexans Electra is a cutting-edge cable laying vessel specifically tailored for subsea transmission work on offshore wind, interconnector and deep sea electrification projects. According to Nexans and Ulstein, this vessel will offer total cable capacity of 13 500 tonnes distributed among three turntables; four cables may also be laid simultaneously, providing efficient multi cable export/array campaigns on complex projects.
The vessel design focuses on station keeping performance, deck layout efficiency and mission flexibility to facilitate turnkey subsea cable installation, construction and repair scopes. Large turntable capacities and dedicated fibre optic tank are designed to help eliminate port calls during long export cable runs while advanced tensioners, carousels and overboarding equipment will help handle both high voltage alternating current and direct current products in harsh offshore conditions.
Outfitting, testing and progress towards 2026 sea trials
As the hull has now arrived at Ulstein Verft, it has entered its final outfitting and commissioning phase, building on previous work done inside its dock hall. Ulstein Verft reports that installation of main generator sets, power packages, propulsion systems, deck machinery and topside mission equipment has progressed rapidly; with remaining activities focused on integration, detailed completion and final paint work.
Nexans Electra will undergo detailed testing and tuning at its outfitting quay before sea trials are scheduled to start in spring 2026. Once successful completion has taken place, Nexans Electra can enter service as planned and expand Nexans subsea fleet capacity deployed from Norway for international offshore wind and interconnector projects; also strengthening Nexans' role as an engineering, procurement, construction and installation partner of global energy transition infrastructure development projects.