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December 1, 2000 Rolls-Royce wins $143 million marine contracts Rolls-Royce has won ship design and equipment supply contracts for offshore service and cable-laying vessels, worth approximately 100 million pounds sterling (around $143 million) over the last three months, including its biggest-ever commercial marine order. Dr. Saul Lanyado, President -- Marine, Rolls-Royce, said: "This is a significant step for Rolls-Royce. Development of the marine business is key to the future strategy of the group. These orders demonstrate a growing demand for specialist offshore vessels. We have a competitive edge in this market." The largest single order ever won by the commercial marine business of Rolls-Royce is from Aker Brattvaag, supplying ship designs and equipment, worth 33 million pounds (about $47million), for seven offshore service vessels The three anchor-handling tug supply vessels and four platform supply vessels will be built at two Aker Brattvaag shipyards in Norway for Gulf Offshore, a subsidiary of the American company Gulf Mark Offshore Inc. Work starts later this year and is due for completion in 2003. Also included in the $143 million total is Rolls-Royce's largest contract yet in relation to cable-laying vessels. It is supplying equipment for four ships being built for U.S.-based TyCom Ltd at the Keppel Hitachi shipyard in Singapore. TyCom Ltd. announced last month that it is building six new cable ships over the next two years. The four latest orders result from the exrcise of purchase options with Keppel-Hitachi Zosen. These ships are in addition to two vessels already under construction, the CS TYCOM RELIANCE and CS TYCOM RESPONDER. Current build schedules call for TyCom to take delivery of the first ship in July 2001, and the second in October 2001. The four additional ships will be delivered in the months to follow, with all six ships completed by December 2002. Purpose-built for installation and maintenance of undersea fiber optic systems, these six ships will be equipped with the latest in cable, navigation, dynamic positioning, and safety equipment. Designed using the most up-to-date advances in shipbuilding, each diesel-electric powered ship will have two drum cable engines and one linear cable engine, making TyCom’s ships the fastest and most efficient cable-laying fleet in operation A fully integrated bridge will allow instant communication and rapid flow of information from all stations. Each ship will be outfitted with a new water jet-assisted Sea Plow cable trenching device providing up to 1.5-meter burial capability, and a free-swimming remotely operated vehicle rated to 2,500 meters depth. News index Marine Log Home page