NordLink guard vessels contract extended

Cable specialist Nexans has extended its contract with NSG Wind and Maritime Logistics Service (MLS) to deliver and coordinate four guard vessels to the NordLink interconnector.

The extension will include three campaigns in 2018 and two in 2019 during which a new cable will be installed to complete the NordLink interconnector.

The first campaign is on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and starts in the second quarter of 2018.

The cable is parallel to the one installed in 2017 from Vollesfjord and towards the border at sea between Norway and Denmark.

NSG Wind is the contract partner with Nexans Norway, while MLS is responsible for vessel intake (chartering of the guard vessels) and marine coordination towards the Nexans Project Group and Statoil Operation Center in the project phase.

The guard vessels’ main mission is to protect the subsea cable by preventing fishing boats, mainly trawlers, crossing the unprotected cable before it has been trenched into the seabed or protected by rock berms.

Initially, there are four guard vessels but that will protect each unprotected cable but up to eight guard vessels can be required.