The cranes will be installed on three pipe-laying ships destined for Subsea 7.

Delivery of the cranes is scheduled for between June and December 2015.

The series builds on others under construction at the IHC Merwede yard for Subsea 7, including the 146m vessel Seven Waves.

It too will be fitted with a MacGregor subsea crane and is scheduled for delivery this year.

The latest vessels, hulls 731, 733 and 735, will each be fitted with one 100-tonne safe working load crane and one 25t MacGregor AHC subsea crane designed to operate at depths of 3500m and 3000m respectively.