Belfast shipbuilder, the Harland & Wolff Group have cut the first steel on a new cable barge it is building for defence contractor KBS Maritime of Portsmouth from where the vessel will be located at the UK’s main naval base.

To mark the steel cutting, a ceremony took place at Harland & Wolff's Appledore shipyard, north Devon. Attending the occasion at the English yard were technical representatives from KBS Maritime and H&W’s engineering team.

The contract valued at approximately £800,000, is to see the Harland & Wolff designed vessel be delivered this Spring, with the specialist cable barge to enter service at the Royal Navy’s main naval base at Portsmouth, Hampshire.

All construction work will be carried out at the Appledore in parallel with existing defence and commercial projects currently underway at the shipyard located near Bideford.

KBS Maritime Ltd is a joint venture between KBR and BAE Systems and delivers hard facilities management and alongside services to support the Portsmouth naval flotilla.

The new cable barge will be used by KBS Maritime as a floating platform to lower anchors and associated cables chains from naval ships so that they can be tested and refurbished as required. The newbuild is to support operations for existing mine-hunters and frigates and when commissioned their successors of the new Type 26’s and Type 31’s.

Naval architects at Harland & Wolff have worked closely with KBS Maritime’s engineering team during the design phase to incorporate features that will improve the safety, capability and efficiency of alongside operations.

An existing barge which remains in service and for over the past 25 years, has been heavily modified and the learnings from these modifications have been incorporated into the newbuild design.