Dong Fang Offshore Orders Cable-Lay System at Huisman

July 23, 2025, by Adrijana Buljan

Huisman has signed a contract with Dong Fang Offshore (DFO) for the delivery of a modular cable-lay system that will be fitted onto DFO’s vessels, including the construction service operation vessels (CSOVs) being built by Vard for the Taiwan-based offshore wind vessel provider.

A visualization of a DFO vessel with Huisman cable-lay system onboard — Image source: Huisman

For Huisman, this marks the company’s first cable-lay system, built on its track record in the deepwater pipelay market, the Dutch vessel equipment provider says. The contract follows a Letter of Intent (LoI) signed at the end of 2023, when DFO ordered a 3,000-tonne cable basket.

The new cable-lay system has a high degree of flexibility and rapid mobilisation capabilities, and can be configured to support both inter-array and export cable laying with DFO’s existing and newbuild offshore construction vessels as well as cable repair operations with DFO’s fleet of CSOVs, according to Huisman.

Dong Fang Offshore has ordered four vessels from the Norwegian shipbuilder Vard, three CSOVs and one offshore subsea construction vessel.

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The system, which Huisman developed in collaboration with cable-lay operations specialist ESD, will be delivered as a single, integrated spread with quick connection interfaces, allowing for fast mobilisation in various configurations tailored to vessel type and operational requirements. This will reduce mobilisation costs, hot work, and commissioning time during project start-up, according to the company.

“The flexibility to be able to deploy integrated, fit-for-purpose spreads on both our Commissioning Service Operations Vessels and Offshore Construction Vessels, in a short period of time we believe creates significant value for our customers and will ensure that there continues to be fit-for-purpose, best in class cable installations available to meet the challenging conditions of Taiwan and beyond”, said Polin Chen, CEO at Dong Fang Offshore.