VESSEL REVIEW | Leonardo da Vinci – Versatile cable-lay vessel delivered to Prysmian Group

Energy and cable systems company the Prysmian Group recently welcomed a new vessel to its cable-laying fleet.

Built by Fincantieri subsidiary Vard, Leonardo da Vinci has a length of approximately 170 metres, a beam of 34 metres, a summer draught of 8.5 metres, and a displacement of 36,400 tonnes at full load. The vessel can sail at a maximum speed of just above 16 knots and is designed to stay out at sea for a maximum of 90 days, making it suitable for extended installation works.

Leonardo da Vinci boasts an impressive bollard pull in excess of 180 tonnes, thus allowing the vessel to perform complex installation operations with a variety of trenching and burial equipment including remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). A DP3 system ensures adequate station keeping to ensure deep-water installation work is successfully carried out even in rough sea conditions.

The hybrid power system consists of six diesel generators and two energy storage systems. The main propulsion units are in the form of three aft azimuthing pod thrusters while two forward-mounted retractable azimuthing thrusters and two bow tunnel thrusters supply added manoeuvrability. These additional thrusters are also to be used in conjunction with the DP3 system.

Accommodations are available for 120 personnel. Facilities besides the cabins include a fully-equipped gym, an auditorium, a game room, a day room, and an officer's lounge.

The vessel is equipped primarily for offshore installation works in water depths of as much as 3,000 metres, partly thanks to cable technology armoured with lighter material.

The vessel is fitted with two massive cable-carrying carousels with capacities of 7,000 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes, respectively, which Prysmian claims is the highest carousel capacity in the market. This attribute ensures reduced transportation time from the factory to the installation site to ensure improved overall project efficiency. A pick-up arm with a dedicated motor is used to deploy the cables from the carousels.

To further enhance efficiency, the vessel relies on two independent laying lines placed on the port and starboard sides. The lines can each lay up to 35 metres of cable in one minute.

The vessel also has two offshore cranes, a towing winch mounted on an A-frame, two enclosed hangars for ROVs, and a flight deck certified for an 18-person utility helicopter.

All cable handling and installation equipment has been designed by Prysmian to guarantee compatibility with the vessel. The equipment is optimised for simultaneous lay and burial or post-lay burial operations, dependent upon project requirements.

The owner also said that the high cable load capacity and navigation speed also allow the number of cable installation campaigns of any project to be significantly reduced. The lower number of transits and the reduced transit time needed thus enable an overall decrease in CO2 emissions and a reduction in fuel consumption of approximately 40 per cent compared to a traditional cable-laying vessel.

To reduce emissions even further, around 80 per cent of the vessel's lighting fittings are low-consumption LEDs.

The first mission assigned to Leonardo da Vinci is the installation of the Viking Link submarine cable connection between the UK and Denmark, which Prysmian says is the world's longest power interconnection. Later in the year, the vessel will be fully dedicated to the execution of other important projects such as the submarine power interconnection between the Spanish islands Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.

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