South Korea’s LS Marine Solution, a subsea cable installation company, announced that it plans to invest approximately $252 million to construct one of the world’s largest cable-laying vessels (CLV) as it seeks to expand its presence in the global offshore wind and HVDC markets.

Per a company statement, the new 13,000-ton-class vessel will rank among the top five globally for cable loading capacity and will be the largest in Asia when it enters service in the first half of 2028. The CLV will be capable of simultaneously laying both power and communication cables, a capability currently found in only three vessels worldwide. The shipbuilder has yet to be selected.

The move was described as part of LS Marine Solution’s broader strategy to secure large-scale HVDC and offshore wind projects in Korea, Europe, and North America. The company is positioning itself as a global turnkey project provider in collaboration with its affiliate, LS Cable & System, which is also preparing to launch its LS GreenLink subsea cable factory in the U.S.

In related news, LS Cable & System (LS C&S) signed an MoU with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to jointly develop and commercialize submarine cable management technology. They will integrate KEPCO’s real-time submarine cable diagnostic technology with LS C&S’s GIS-based cable asset management platform, aiming for global commercialization and enhanced operational reliability.

The goal is to prevent undersea ultra-high voltage transmission (HVDC) cable accidents. It is possible to predict damage to submarine cables due to fishing activities and preemptively respond by maintaining cables or changing buried locations.