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Prysmian’s new cable-laying vessel Monna Lisa reaches hull erection stage

The company decided to invest in the new Monna Lisa shortly after its sister ship was christened in 2022, and she is now under construction in Tulcea, Romania. The addition of Monna Lisa will expand Prysmian’s installation fleet to six cable laying vessels, helping to meet rising demand for advanced cable technology boosted by strong growth in the renewable energy sector.

Monna Lisa will follow in the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci, boasting the most avant-garde technology in the market, and will reinforce Prysmian’s EPCI approach offering engineering, manufacturing, installation and monitoring services, strengthening Prysmian leadership in the interconnection and offshore wind farm markets.

Monna Lisa, sister vessel of Leonardo da Vinci, will have installed the same main equipment and early implementation of lessons learned from the construction of Leonardo da Vinci. She will match the capacity and performance of Leonardo da Vinci, while incorporating some green improvements such as lower C02 emissions thanks to the shore connection (to feed the vessel with clean energy from shore during the loading at the factories) and an energy storage system with double the battery capacity. All Prysmian fleet will improve soon the green footprint by adding the shore connection system, Monna Lisa will be the first to drive the change.

 

Being the second vessel, we can see the improvements in the design and construction, together with a high level of outfitting already tested with Leonardo da Vinci. One lesson learned from the previous project is how to improve the collaboration with the yard and the wider project team. We are working in a very good environment with the yard and all the stakeholders involved and trying to find effective solutions to any challenges that we come across

Davide Leoni

Project Manager for Monna Lisa at Prysmian

A keel laying ceremony was held in Tulcea in April 2023 to mark the birth of the new vessel built by the VARD Group (a subsidiary of Italy’s Fincantieri Group).

“The hull erection means that we are starting to assemble the vessel for the launching. From that moment onwards, Monna Lisa will be afloat in the water”, said Leoni, adding that the launching is scheduled for March 2024.

 

Erecting the hull involves assembling steel blocks in the final hull form and welding them together. So far have been cut and prefabricated all 9137 tons of steel and 70% of the steel weight has been pre-erected.

An average of about 600/700 people per day have been working on the construction in the shipyard up to now, and that number is likely to steadily increase.

Some of the key equipment is also being installed at this stage, such as the generators, thruster units and the capstan. The hull structure is taking shape on the erection platform, from which the entire vessel will later be moved onto the “Atlante” floatable dry dock for the launching operation.

Outstanding green credentials

  • High Voltage Shore Connection to power the vessel with clean energy during loading operation
  • Battery Hybrid System with 3MWh Energy Storage
  • Diesel generators ready for biodiesel blends