OMS launches Malaysian-flagged submarine cable installation barge

PORT KLANG: Optic Marine Services Group (OMS) today launched the Malaysian-flagged submarine cable installation barge – Cable Orchestra.
The US$15 million shore end cable laying barge is purpose-built to facilitate cable installation in water depth of up to 40 metres.
OMS Chief Executive Officer, Ronnie Lim Hai Liang, said Cable Orchestra would be able to lay cables at a much higher rate than usual, installing as long as five kilometres (km) per day depending on seabed conditions.
"It has the capacity to carry 700 tonnes of cables that equate to about 200km," he said.
Lim said Cable Orchestra, slated to commence operations next month, was equipped with a five-metre burial tool, the Dragon Sledge, and could accommodate up to 50 crew members. It also has the Dynamic Positioning System, he said.
"We aim at between 30 and 35% growth in revenue with the addition of Cable Orchestra," he told reporters at the inauguration of the barge by Deputy Minister of Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Lee Chee Leong, here today.
In September, Cable Orchestra will embark on a segment of the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5), which is a 20,000 km submarine cable system connecting 17 countries, from Singapore to West Asia to France and Italy in Western Europe.
The SMW5 project is worth over US500 million, of which OMS will be partly involved with an eight-month duration works and an expected revenue of US$35 million.
Moving forward, Lim said, OMS planned to venture into deeper waters, from a depth of 50 metres to 3,000 metres by acquiring a cable ship worth US$150 million, by the fourth quarter of 2017.
OMS provides integrated submarine cable installation project solutions and its services range from project management and consultancy, permits acquisition, marine agency and logistics consultancy, cable transfers, cable landing, shallow water cable installation, land plant and outside plant construction. – Bernama