Both the newbuilds at Ulstein Verft are nominees for the ‘Ship of the Year 2021’ Award; the polar vessel 'National Geographic Resolution' and the cable-laying vessel 'Nexans Aurora'. The ‘Ship of the Year’ is awarded by the maritime magazine Skipsrevyen and the winner will be announced in August.

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.

In September 2020, the three azimuth propulsion thrusters were installed in the cable-laying vessel 'Nexans Aurora', which is under construction at Ulstein Verft. Each thruster has an effect of 3,200 kW and a diameter of 2,900 mm.

The construction of the next-generation cable laying vessel, the 'Nexans Aurora', is well underway at Ulstein Verft. In such a complex newbuild project, several tasks are carried out at the same time. On 10 September 2020, the cable capstan was installed during a short break in the ongoing paint process.

The main equipment for the CLV vessel 'Nexans Aurora' is currently being lifted on board the vessel and mounted. The engine on these photos is the third of six main engines.