Vard Holdings wins ship design contract from Kokusai Cable Ship Company in Japan

VARD Holdings Limited has secured a contract to design a cable lay vessel for Kokusai Cable Ship Co Ltd in Japan, the company said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday.

The designer and shipbuilder of specialised vessels said the vessel will be the newest addition to Kokusai Cable Ship's fleet and is being constructed at Colombo Dockyard plc in Sri Lanka.

The vessel will be tailor-made for efficient installation and repair of subsea telecom cables. It also incorporates a high capacity below-deck cable carousel to prepare it for the expanding power cable installation market, it said.

Erik Haakonsholm, senior vice-president of Vard Design, says: "Vard Design has designed 185 specialised vessels for shipowners and shipyards all over the world. We are proud to be selected by Kokusai Cable Ship, together with Colombo Dockyard, to design their new flagship.

"Our first cable layer of Vard 9 01 design was built by Vard in 2014, and the new vessel for operations in the Japanese market is a further evolution of this vessel, with additional capacity and power cable installation features."

The keel laying ceremony for the vessel was held in Colombo last Thursday (see amendment note). The vessel will be delivered in 2019.