Norwegian yard to build cable-lay vessel for fast-expanding Taiwanese owner

The rapidly expanding Taiwanese company already has service operation vessels and subsea vessels on order, and in May 2025 signed a memorandum of understanding with Lamprell for a newbuild NG-9000X wind turbine installation and maintenance vessel.

Under the new agreement, Westcon Yard will take over and complete the construction of what Dong Fang Offshore described as “a large CLV currently underway, with a contracted delivery date in the first quarter of 2027.” 

The company did not indicate where the vessel that will be taken over is being built or provide details about the design. It said the cable-lay vessel “supports business growth and expansion plans, and replaces cable installation capacity lost in Taiwan following the recent exercise of a 2028 option for Orient Adventurer by DeepOcean, taking the vessel firm to the end of 2028 in Europe, with further options until 2031.”

Dong Fang Offshore said, “The decision for this new cable-lay vessel is driven by the successful extension of Orient Adventurer’s contract, and as such a new vessel is required to replace it for subsea cable projects we have already secured in 2028 in the APAC region.” The company said the decision also reflected the vessel’s delivery schedule, competitive price and future business development in the region. Orient Adventurer is under contract to DeepOcean, which took the vessel on charter starting in early 2026 until the end of 2027.

“This addition will add much-needed capacity to support our customers offshore energy ambitions, and secures our long-term future as a leading APAC-based contractor,” said the company.

Once the newbuilds the company has on ordered are delivered, it will have two cable-lay vessels, two construction support vessels with cable repair capability, three service operations vessels, a survey vessel, two anchor-handling tugs, seven crew transport vessels, a cargo barge, and a DP2 Multicat.