South Korean subsea cable contractor LS Marine Solutions has signed a construction agreement with Turkey’s Tersan Shipyard to build a high-voltage direct current cable-laying vessel.

According to the company, the new vessel will be Asia’s largest and one of the top five in its class globally, with a cable loading capacity of 13,000 tonnes.

The vessel is designed for laying both HVDC submarine cables and optical cables. It will be equipped with systems which minimise connection losses in long-distance and deep-sea environments.

When construction is complete, it will be Korea’s only vessel of its kind. Construction is expected to take about two years, setting the vessel for deployment in the first half of 2028.

The Korean firm plans to use the new vessel on key domestic projects like South Korea’s West Coast HVDC Energy Highway, and on the increasing number of offshore wind and long-distance cable projects in Europe and North America.

Financial details were not revealed. However, in late May, the company said that it set aside KRW 345.8bn ($255.7m) for the vessel.

LS Marine Solutions said at the time that the vessel would be one of the top five in the world in terms of cable loading capacity, and highly competitive, as there are only about 20 cable laying vessels in the world, most owned by companies from European countries.