Last December, Ulstein Verft AS won the contract to convert shipowner Solstad’s cable-laying vessel Normand Clipper into a pipe-laying and offshore construction vessel. The conversion work is as extensive as the building of a new platform supply vessel. Rebuilding will be finished by the end of May, at which time the vessel will go straight to work in the English sector. “The conversion is extensive, and the work involved for Ulstein can be compared to that required for the construction of a new platform supply vessel. The entire work process is to be finished within the course of five months. Preparatory work began in December 2004, when the rigging and cable-laying equipment was brought ashore. Bunkers still inside the vessel were removed, and the tanks drained of gas.