French shipowner LD Armateurs (LDA) has acquired three platform supply vessels (PSV) currently under construction for conversion into submarine telecommunications cable installation and repair ships.
The company said on Thursday, November 5, that the PSVs are scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2027.
They will then be transferred to a conversion shipyard for the installation of cable operations equipment, with entry into service planned for the first quarter of 2028.
Each converted vessel will carry 2,800 tonnes of cable and will be fitted with hybrid-electric propulsion. The ships will undertake both conventional installation and repair work and complex projects.
CEO Samira Draoua said the company aims to "support sustained growth in the telecommunications sector, contribute to the sovereignty of critical infrastructure and anticipate the modernisation of an ageing global fleet with insufficient capacity."
LDA is also establishing Académie LDA to recruit and train crews for its cable business as well as for three new methanol- and wind-assisted Ro-Ro ships chartered to Airbus.
The company already manages cable-laying and maintenance vessels for Alcatel Submarine Networks and Optic Marine Group. It previously supported the conversion of the PSV Ile de Molene into a cable maintenance ship at a yard in Gdansk, Poland.
In September, LDA took delivery of the DP2 multipurpose vessel TVO Mariner for its cable installation and protection subsidiary LD TravOcean.
