The shipbuilding construction of Nexans Electra is approaching its final phase in the dock, before the comprehensive work continues quayside ahead of sea trials in spring 2026. How do you organise a staff of hundreds of workers, subcontractors and suppliers over several months to deliver the project on time and within budget? Join project manager Runar Toftesund at Ulstein Verft for a look behind the scenes.

The hull of the state-of-the-art DP3 cable-laying vessel Nexans Electra arrived at Ulstein Verft on 5 July 2025. This marks the commencement of the outfitting and completion phase of the vessel. Upon completion in 2026, she will feature a split turntable on deck capable of holding up to 10,000 tonnes of cable, an under-deck turntable with a 3,500-tonne cable capacity, and a fibre optic tank with a 450-tonne capacity.

On 19 January 2024, on the day four months after signing the shipbuilding contract, Nexans Marine Operations AS and Ulstein Verft could celebrate the start of the construction of Nexans’ next cable laying vessel. Attending the steel cutting ceremony at the Crist hull yard were representatives from Nexans, Ulstein Verft, DNV and Crist.

On 19 September 2023, Nexans Marine Operations AS and Ulstein Verft entered into a contract on the construction of a large DP3 cable laying vessel.

The DP3 Cable Laying Vessel, Nexans Aurora’, was named at Ulstein Verft on 8 June 2021. The lady sponsor is Mrs Anne Lise Aukner, former Managing Director of Nexans Norway.

The final milestone of the Aurora construction adventure was reached today, on 31 May 2021, when the DP3 Cable Lay Vessel ‘Nexans Aurora’, the state-of-the-art flagship of the Nexans fleet, was delivered from Ulstein Verft.

Snow-covered mountain tops, green hillsides and a bright sun on a blue sky make a perfect frame for the lady in red, the CLV vessel ‘Nexans Aurora’, on her sea trial. A sunny mood also characterizes the atmosphere on board the vessel.

In any other year, the shipyard Ulstein Verft is happy to welcome student groups, but Covid-19 set an abrupt halt to group visits. However, the program manager of the Ship Design study at NTNU Ålesund recently came up with a solution.

The construction project of the cable lay vessel 'Nexans Aurora' has recently reached a new milestone, as the installation of the MAATS Tech equipment package including the carousel, loading arms, access tower and control cabin have now been completed.

“Quality at all levels”, says Per Jarle Ytrebø at Ulstein Elektro Installasjon when explaining why they are well positioned with the setup of the IAS system (Integrated Automation System) on the cable lay vessel Nexans Aurora, currently under construction at Ulstein Verft.

12 February 2021: During the past few days of the shipbuilding project of the CLV Nexans Aurora, the outer part of the carousel has been mounted. Currently we are installing the fairings.

On 29 January 2021, the large, 150-tonne, A-frame for the DP3 cable laying vessel ‘Nexans Aurora’, under construction at Ulstein Verft, was lifted into position.

During the time span of 2.5 days and after 272 heaves, the carousel equipment for the cable lay vessel Nexans Aurora has been offloaded at Ulstein Verft.

On 8 November 2020, Nexans’ next-generation Cable Laying Vessel, the ‘Nexans Aurora’ was launched at Ulstein Verft. The 149.9 m long and 31 m wide vessel will be working in the offshore renewables market, installing subsea cables including cables connecting offshore wind farms to the grid and interconnector systems.

The installation of the state of the art, MAATS cable lay equipment on board the CLV vessel Nexans Aurora has now commenced at the Ulstein Verft shipyard.