SUBMARINE CABLE

CONSULTANCY & DESIGNING

Submarine cables are designed and manufactured as advanced technology products and should be installed and protected on seabed with high accuracy and knowledge. Operations should be planned with utmost details and performed by submarine cable engineers and specialized cable installing personnel.

The optimization of customer’s expectations and technical requirements are held during the planning stage. Planning is done by selection of the least costly route, cable specifications, goagraphical conditions determined by submarine cable survey, depth, fishing activities, anchorage and many similar factors being taken into consideration.

Consultancy service to submarine cable operators during stages of technical specification preparation, route planning, optimization and designing provides savings to a large extent on cost calculations. Inaccurately planned technical specifications, wrong selection of route or cables lead to high investment and operating costs and also to shutdowns because of malfunctioning.

SUBMARINE CABLE INSTALLATION

Installation of submarine cables according to the project is directy associated to cable survey results. During installation, cable tensile, the ratio of ship speed to cable, slopes of the seabed and depths of water are recorded in real time and submarine cable installation is performed according to standards. Submarine cable engineers change the parameters if needed and optimum installation performance is achieved. Recorded real time data is analysed in detail and reported at the end of project.

Gatemarine engineers follow the main headings below for submarine cable installation;

• • Cable landing and beach manhole connections,
  • Installation of cable on seabed and simultaneous or subsequent burial of zones to be protected,
  • Articulated protection pipe and burial applications done by specialized diver team in cable landings and in some shallow waters,
  • Buoy applications in cable landing for navigational aids to show the cable location to sailors,
  • Final acceptance tests, measurements of submarine cable, and commissioning,
  • Preparation of final report.

MAINTENANCE, REPAIR & RECOVERY OF SUBMARINE CABLE

MAINTENANCE

Submarine cables installed according to international standards need maintenance and protection on a regular basis to complete their average service life of 25 years. Protection equipment needs regular maintenance because of wearing effects of waves, currents, and corresion effects of sea water. To protect the cable, Gatemarine maintenance and repair team regularly provides protection for buoys on surface, articulated protection pipes under water and beach manholes.

REPAIR

Despite all protection measures, submarine cables can get damaged because of generally fishing activities, anchors, earthquakes or landslides. In such circumstances, damage of the cable should be detected as soon as possible and regardless of depth this region should be removed and the cable repaired.

RECOVERY

Gatemarine maintenance and repair team performs repairment of submarine cables down to 1500 m depth using submarine Joint box, special-purpose machines, tool kits and equipment the design and production of which belong to Gatemarine. Although the increase in data transmission with the improvement in technology does not influence optical fiber cables, electronic equipment like repeater used under water has to be changed. For this purpose cable recovery operations are held in some routes and the routes are constructed again. Submarine cables that have completed the average 25 year service life are recovered according to environmental requirements, with the aim of route cleaning for new pipes, or in line with customers’ economical demands and sent as scrap to recycling.