Tuesday Dec 23, 2025
Tuesday Dec 23, 2025
Tuesday, 23 December 2025 02:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
CS ILE D’AIX, Alcatel Submarine Networks cable ship is planned to enter the Drydock No. 01 for major lay up and drydocking repairs
Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) is charting a course toward calmer waters after navigating a prolonged period of turbulence. During these challenging times, the Ship Repair Sector played a pivotal role in sustaining the organisation by ensuring steady cash flow to support all business units. True to the saying, “Hard times create strong men”, the Ship Repair Sector successfully established itself in several new market segments that value quality, safety, timely delivery, and technical competence—all while delivering superior financial returns.
These new segments not only enhance profitability but also address a long-standing challenge: ensuring consistent dock utilisation. With this progress, Colombo Dockyard is well-positioned for a more stable and promising journey ahead.
Shipbuilding at Colombo Dockyard always concentrates for compact specialised vessels with number of machineries. These are high value assets demand precision and high quality. Hence every few shipyards dare to serve in such niche segments. One of such segments where the Shipbuilding sector of Colombo dockyard had marked its position at top is the Cable Ship Segment.
In 2019, Colombo Dockyard delivered its first cable‑laying vessel, “KDDI Cable Infinity”, to Kokusai Cable Ship Co., Japan. This milestone marked Colombo Dockyard’s entry into the specialised field of cable‑ship construction.
In 2023, the shipyard further strengthened its position in the global subsea‑vessel market by delivering the cable‑repair ship “CRV Sophie Germain” to Orange Marine, France.
While simultaneously progressing with the construction of 10 Hybrid Eco Bulk Carriers to the Norwegian ship‑owning company Misje in 2025, Colombo Dockyard successfully returned to its core specialisation—cable‑ship building. During this period, the company secured a prestigious repeat‑order contract from Orange Marine to construct two new Cable Laying and Repair Vessels. Orange Marine operates one of the world’s most experienced cable‑ship fleets, accounting for 12% of the global cable‑ship capacity, making this contract particularly significant.
This achievement represents a historic milestone for Colombo Dockyard, marking the largest shipbuilding contract ever signed in the company’s history and reaffirming its status as a key global player in the subsea cable‑vessel industry.
CS Teneo in Dock 1 and CS Ile de Re accommodated at Guide Pier 1
Having established itself as one of the world’s most preferred shipyards for Cable Laying Vessel construction, Colombo Dockyard’s Ship Repair Sector strategically focused on capturing opportunities within the cable ship repair segment. Building on the confidence gained through a growing portfolio of successful projects and strong references from highly respected clients in the industry, the Ship Repair Sector proactively engaged with key global cable ship operators to secure new business.
CDPLC secured its first dry‑docking repair enquiry for ILE DE BREHAT, a cable ship operated by Alcatel Submarine Networks and managed by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, France. This specialised Installation and Maintenance vessel is engineered to perform a full spectrum of subsea cable operations, including cable installation, cable repairs, post‑lay burial, and pre‑lay grapnel runs, making it one of the key assets in global telecommunication infrastructure support.
She arrived at the yard on 20 December 2024 for a set of basic dry‑docking tasks, primarily aimed at assessing the shipyard’s capabilities, capacity, working environment, and the level of support provided by the management. This initial “test project” proved to be a resounding success, paving the way for three additional cable ship repair projects. Securing four complex projects within a single year from a new and highly specialised market stands as a significant achievement in the company’s history.
The second cable layer vessel ILE DE RE—an Optic Marine cable ship managed by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, France—arrived in August 2025. This versatile vessel is designed for both subsea cable installation and remedial operations. Known for its high speed and excellent performance in harsh marine conditions, the ship is equipped with its own ROV and six cable tanks, providing a total cable‑carrying capacity of 5,050 tons.
Leveraging the shipyard’s extensive experience in shipbuilding and the support of the newbuilding team, a new whisker plate—the steel chute used to guide cable safely into and out of the vessel—was successfully installed, further enhancing the vessel’s operational capability.
The third cable layer vessel TENEO—an Optic Marine cable ship managed by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, France—is well‑suited for both deep‑water and shallow‑water operations due to its low design draft. This compactness, combined with excellent manoeuvrability in confined spaces, makes her a preferred choice among operators.
However, while the vessel’s smaller size offers operational advantages, it presents challenges during repair activities. Therefore, from the outset, the job sequence was carefully planned to avoid foreseeable overlaps and ensure smooth execution of the repair schedule.
The fourth project, CS ILE D’AIX, Alcatel Submarine Networks cable ship, managed by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, France is currently undergoing with repairs in the shipyard. She is an “installation class” vessel – built and design for installing submarine cable, having three sister vessels named Ile de Batz, Ile de Brehat and the Ile de Sein which are the flagships of the ASN fleet since coming out of the Hyundai yard in Korea in the early millennium. She is to undergo major retrofit of two new stern thrusters involving 3D modelling, drawings for Class approval with number of disciplines such as mechanical, piping, electrical, steel etc., for this incoming project.
The fourth project, CS ILE D’AIX—an Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) cable ship managed by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS, France—is currently undergoing repairs at the shipyard. She is an “installation‑class” vessel, purpose‑built for submarine cable installation, and is one of four sister ships: Ile de Batz, Ile de Bréhat, and Ile de Sein, which have served as the flagships of the ASN fleet since their delivery from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea in the early 2000s.
For this incoming project, the vessel is scheduled to undergo a major retrofit involving the installation of two new stern thrusters. This scope requires comprehensive 3D modelling and the development of class‑approval drawings across multiple disciplines, including mechanical, piping, electrical, and steel structures.
Accordingly, Colombo Dockyard has demonstrated excellence both in its products and in the services it delivers. Repeat business is earned only through the positive experiences the clients gain at the shipyard, and these recurring partnerships reflect their confidence in the company’s capabilities.
Securing such a unique and complex business segment—and successfully executing four cable‑ship projects within a single year—would not have been possible without the unwavering dedication and teamwork across all departments, divisions, and segments, as well as the visionary leadership of the company’s top management.
Colombo Dockyard has also achieved a remarkable milestone by attracting cable ships from Taiwan to Colombo for repairs, diverting them from Singapore, a region traditionally recognised for such specialised services. This accomplishment reinforces our standing in the regional maritime industry.
Today, Colombo Dockyard is recognised as a one‑stop destination for highly specialised ship repair solutions, further strengthening our position as a preferred partner in the cable‑ship repair and maintenance sector.
Cable Layer Vessel Ile de Brehat drydocked in Dryock No. 01
