NTT World Engineering Marine Corporation has launched a new cable-laying vessel.
Dubbed CS Vega II, the vessel, registered under the Philippine flag, will launch later this month.
The vessel will primarily attend to subsea telecommunications cables within the Philippines but will also tend to international cables in nearby waters.
It will be crewed by Filipino personnel, with both Japanese and Filipino engineers on board to carry out operational tasks.
NTT World Engineering Marine was established in 2000 by NTT. It is the only provider that owns a subsea cable-laying vessel under the Philippine flag.
The company also has four other cable-laying vessels, namely, Vega, Orion, Subaru, and Kizuna. The fleet is used for ocean investigation, construction, repair work, and marine surveys.
Whilst NTT has a healthy fleet, such ships are few and far between. The industry has long suffered from a shortage of repair and cable-laying ships, and this capacity crunch has seen many projects delayed and rerouted.
The Philippines are home to numerous subsea cables, both international and domestic, including Jupiter, PLCN, Sea-US, SJC, AAG, APCN-2, and the Asia Direct cable.
