On 11th March 2014 DeepOcean UK, a subsidiary of DeepOcean group Holding BV, announced that the company had entered into a 7 year charter agreement with Maersk Supply Services, for a new build next generation cable lay vessel. The vessel was a DOC 8500, a Damen Offshore Carrier which had been designed specifically to suit DeepOcean’s requirements. The chartering of the DOC 8500 extends DeepOcean’s capabilities in the larger cable laying end of the market, representing a new focus on interconnector projects, in addition to oil & gas sector and renewables work. Owned and operated by Maersk Supply Service, the vessel will become the latest addition to the 60-plus strong Maersk offshore support vessel fleet.