Jan De Nul will add a new subsea trencher capable of burying cables up to five metres below the seabed by the end of 2026, ahead of its first deployment on a German North Sea project in summer 2027, according to a company statement.
The Crayfish trencher, ordered from British engineering company Osbit, is designed for shallow-water cable burial close to shore. It can operate in water depths of up to 200 metres and can be deployed offshore and onshore.
Crayfish will be permanently based aboard Henry Darcy, which is being converted from a water injection dredger into a trenching support vessel.
The remotely operated machine has a lightweight, modular design intended to reduce its impact on its surroundings and simplify transport and mobilisation between projects.
The conversion of Henry Darcy will reuse high-pressure water pumps previously employed for dredging. The pumps will feed jet water from the vessel to Crayfish through a hose, allowing the trencher to loosen the seabed and bury cables.
Locating the pumps aboard Henry Darcy rather than on the trencher itself will allow Crayfish to operate in very shallow water and closer to shore, where conventional trencher-mounted jet pumps cannot operate.
Crayfish is due to enter service in summer 2027 in the German North Sea, burying cables in shallow waters under the 2 GW cable programme Jan De Nul is carrying out for grid operator TenneT.
The new machine forms part of Jan De Nul’s investment in expanding its subsea cable fleet and its capacity for cable installation and protection.
Jan De Nul also operates Swordfish, an Osbit-built trencher used to bury cables in deep water.
Osbit is a British engineering company specialising in the equipment represented in Jan De Nul’s fleet by the Crayfish and Swordfish trenchers.
TenneT is a grid operator involved in the 2 GW cable programme that will provide Crayfish with its first deployment.