World's largest subsea cable-laying vessel launched in China

Belgian marine construction company Jan De Nul has launched the world’s largest and most advanced cable-laying vessel (CLV), the Fleeming Jenkin, at the CMHI Haimen shipyard in China. With a record 28,000-ton cable-carrying capacity, the vessel is designed to install subsea cables for high-capacity offshore wind farms and power grid connections, supporting Europe’s transition to large-scale clean energy. Scheduled to begin operations in 2026, its first mission will be under the Dutch-German grid operator TenneT’s 2GW Program, which aims to deploy offshore connections capable of transmitting up to two gigawatts of electricity—more than double the capacity of existing systems. The Fleeming Jenkin can lay over 1,700 miles (2,800 km) of subsea cables across distances exceeding 434 miles (700 km) in the North Sea, connecting offshore wind farms to mainland grids and strengthening Europe’s renewable energy network. It