Global Marine Systems Limited, a UK-based specialist in subsea cable engineering projects, announced today that it has secured a contract from Tampnet, a global leader in high capacity communications, who operates the largest offshore high capacity communication network in the world. The contract, with work being undertaken in 2018 by one of the Company’s key installation vessels, is designed to further enhance inter oil-field communication networks in the North Sea.
The project, which is the sixth contract award to Global Marine from Tampnet, focuses on the installation of a platform to platform fibre optic cable. It will incorporate the laying and burial of approximately 75km of fibre optic cable from an existing Branching Unit (BU) to the platform. In addition, a Cable End Module (CEM) and a further three BUs will be installed at selected locations along the route. Prior to the installation, Global Marine will conduct a detailed marine route survey and burial assessment report providing comprehensive data that will deliver fundamental information, crucial to ensuring the successful installation of this project.
Subsea assets will be utilised to conduct cable burial to 1m below the seabed in a water depth of 75m. A CEM will be installed within the platform 500m zone. The installation of a CEM is not new to Global Marine, as the Company is well versed with the rigorous requirements in terms of seabed positioning as well as the lay tolerances required for precise deployment. Laying and burial of the fibre optic cable will commence upon successful installation of the CEM, towards an existing BU where a previously installed cable end will be recovered and the fibre optic cables jointed. The scope of this project, including the buoying of cable ends, allows for future development of the system to other platforms in the North Sea if required.
“The award of this contract highlights the continued confidence Tampnet has in Global Marine,” says Mikkel Gleerup, Director, Sales & Commercial at Global Marine. “Having seen a slowdown in development in the oil and gas market recently, this contract shows the key advantages of investment in fibre to platforms and allows Global Marine to continually demonstrate its expert skills in this type of specialised installation. It is a testament to the proven capabilities of our marine installation vessel, crew and equipment and we are happy to be working with Tampnet again on this exciting project.”
Tampnet’s CEO Per Helge Svensson added, “Tampnet is very pleased to enter into a new subsea installation contract with Global Marine. Over the last few years, we have completed several subsea fibre cable projects where Global Marine has been the supplier of the subsea installation work. The previous projects were very successful and we are confident that the current work to be performed by Global Marine will be according to the highest standards, making sure that our extensive quality requirements for continued robustness of our infrastructure is met.”
Although there have been power cables in the marine environment for many decades, there have been relatively few in number until fairly recently. Those that exist are predominately national or short haul international cables, and in terms of total kilometres are rather limited. Certainly this is the case when compared with telecoms cables, which have traditionally numbered hundreds of thousands of kilometres laid on the sea bed. As a result, the repair of power cables has very much been a niche market revolving around securing and mobilising VOOs (vessels of opportunity) or framework agreements, the latter mostly with the original cable installer/manufacturer and their specialist repair assets.
The financing of these repairs has always rested with the insurance industry, which because of the relative limited number of cables and faults, has been a model that has proved suitable for the majority of parties. However, with increasing awareness of climate change and the subsequent desire for more renewable and cleaner power sources, there has been a big push (particularly in the European region) for the development of large amounts of offshore wind capacity. This has led to a significant increase in power cable sea bed kilometres to service and connect wind farms to their respective national grids. In the European region specifically, there has also been an increase in the number of international links, to more effectively harness and transmit electricity around the various power markets.
The upshot is an increased risk profile for power cables, and correspondingly more faults, whether from manufacturing or from third party aggression. As a consequence, there has been a marked increase in the number of insurance claims.
The increased cost of liability has led insurers and some national/regional government bodies to look at ways of reducing costs and strengthening the supply chain. A further aim is to enable a more rapid and streamlined response times – insurance-based repair models normally incur a significant delay (months) between the fault occurring and a repair being undertaken.
Power cable repairs costs are frequently in the multiple of millions. This level of expenditure is understandable as such projects necessitate the diversion of a dedicated specialist installation vessel from its existing activities, and more often than not, sail it from a distant global location. Additionally, depending on the installation equipment already mobilised on board, it may be necessary to have a period of reconfiguration prior to commencing the power cable repair. Alternatively, the deployment of a VOO means having to locate and mobilise all the specialist equipment, such as chutes, tensioners, compatible jointers and jointing equipment (as well as some form of cable storage arrangement), prior to sailing.
Correspondingly, everything has to be totally demobbed after the operation, with these activities requiring the cable owner or insurer to cover the cost of the VOO while this takes place, which could cost anywhere between £65,000 and £150,000 per day. Assuming a seven-day mobilisation/configuration, and corresponding demobilisation, the pre- and post-operational activities can cost anywhere from £0.91 million to £2.1 million, even before sailing to the fault site and undertaking any survey/inspection or repair activity.
These costs do not even consider the cost of service interruption; this was calculated for a 300MW UK windfarm in November 2014 by Transmission Investments LLP to be in the region of £3 million to £12 million per month depending on the number of export cables available for transmission back to the grid. In this instance, the higher figure is where there is only one export cable servicing the wind farm, while the lower figure represents two cables.
Traditionally, telecom agreements (in particular maintenance zones), have a vessel or vessels on standby close to the specific regions known to have high fault rates, and are usually able to sail for cable repair within 24/36 hours of being called out. It is this preparation, localisation and cost effectiveness that the UK’s OFGEM, along with the support of some of the larger UK’s OFTO’s (Offshore Transmission Operators), wishes to replicate for all the UK’s offshore wind farm export cables, national links and inter-connectors. It is estimated that there will be around 20,000km of power cable installed in northern European waters by 2030, which means that there are likely to be between 10 and 40 large cable repair projects in the North Sea per year by that date.
Global Marine Systems Ltd, the world leader in subsea system design, installation and maintenance, has presented a cheque for nearly £16,000 to national children’s charity, Brainwave. Approximately half of the donation was raised following a two-day show of pedalling power by 18 employees who cycled 210 miles from Global Marine’s headquarters in Chelmsford, Essex, to the company’s cable storage depot in Portland, Dorset.
Through a series of sponsored activities over the past 12 months including the Great East Swim, raffles and cookery challenges, Global Marine has been diligently raising much-needed funds for Brainwave, and in October 2016 was delighted to present the charity with a cheque for £15,789.76.
The bike ride in August provided £8,534.68 of that total. Setting off from Chelmsford and travelling through London, the team of 18 stopped in Winchester, Hampshire for an overnight stop, before finally finishing in Portland the following evening.
A number of Global Marine’s suppliers and other local businesses kindly sponsored this impressive cycling feat, including Ben Line Agencies, Bollington Insurance, CSCC, Healeys, Keller, L&R Midland, Meachers, The New London Restaurant, Prysmian Group, Quadrant Equipment, Sainsbury’s Springfield, SMD, SSI Energy, Sumitomo and Willis Towers Watson.
With a centre located in Witham, just a few miles from Global Marine’s Chelmsford base, Brainwave aims to improve mobility, communication skills and learning potential through a range of therapies for children with physical, sensory, learning, cognitive and behavioural difficulties.
Moving forward, Global Marine is already planning more initiatives to help raise money for this worthy cause, including a 200,000m two-day indoor rowing challenge, a fantasy football league and Santa dash. Company employees also have the opportunity to donate through their monthly salaries.
Global Marine Systems Limited, with joint venture partner Huawei Marine Networks (HMN), has mentored a team of four, sixth form students to the 2016 Engineering Education Scheme (EES) National finals where they were crowned champions.
The team, comprising of students from the Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School including Charlotte Buttery, Jahnina Queddeng, Alicia Trew and Abbie Cook, undertook a six-month engineering project with the EES, a programme run by education charity, the Engineering Development Trust. At the 2016 finals held at the Institute for Engineering and Technology in London on Wednesday 7th September, the team was announced as the overall winners, surpassing over 260 schools from across the country.
The EES provides students the opportunity to work on commercial projects within a range of engineering companies; a rare and powerful educational experience for the young adults from Brentwood Ursuline. Over a six month period, the team designed, constructed and developed a tar cleaning device known as the ‘Tarminator’ which has been adopted by HMN and is expected to bring both time and cost savings during the maintenance of transatlantic communication cables.
HMN engineer and scheme mentor Adrian Jarvis said, “The students exceeded our expectations in developing a product that solved a real problem for us, with the added bonus of winning the national award. It has been a pleasure working with the students who have developed many new skills and grown into confident young professionals. I wish them all well for their future in their chosen profession and would like to personally thank Mr Dif, Head of Physics at the school, and the students for their enthusiastic support.”
Head of Physics at Brentwood Ursuline, Mr Dif said, “This represents a great achievement for the girls who have become role models to their younger peers at school where interest in engineering is growing.”
Student Abbie Cook said, “The scheme has been invaluable in both my choice of A level studies, as well as my future career. Winning the EES national competition was truly amazing and the feedback we had from the judges and public was very inspiring.”
Fellow student, Alicia Trew also commented, “The EES project has been an amazing experience. Before entering the project, I had an ambition to enter into a career in engineering. After finishing the project as national winner, I am one hundred percent certain that engineering is the career I would like to follow.”
Following the project success, the team has gone on to set up their own science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) club at school, helping to inspire younger students and grow their passion for engineering further as they look to pursue their learning at university next year.
The ‘Tarminator’ itself has a bright future and is currently going through a more rigorous product testing and commercialisation process with the view to it becoming a standard piece of equipment on both HMN and Global Marine vessels based across the globe.
Global Marine Systems Limited is pleased to announce that it has succeeded in upgrading its ISO 9001 certification to the new International Quality Standard ISO 9001:2015. Demonstrating its continued commitment to being at the forefront of developments in this discipline, Global Marine is one of the first companies in the industry to achieve accreditation to the revised quality standard.
The company’s early transition to the standard, ahead of the September 2018 deadline, provides a number of key benefits for both the business and, in turn, customers. Certification to ISO 9001:2015 provides assurance that Global Marine has evolved its management system to meet the growing needs of customers and other key stakeholders, identifies future customer needs, improves customer retention with better customer service and addresses supply chain management more effectively.
William Christie, Certification Director, AJA Registrars Ltd, said “Congratulations to all at Global Marine for achieving certification to ISO9001:2015. The changes within this revision of the standard required Global Marine not only to demonstrate a quality management system was in place, but that the system was designed and continually applied to provide the leadership team with valuable information in order to react positively to the increasingly changing business situations. This new approach to business risk management will provide confidence to their existing and potential customers of their commitment to future success.”
Lorraine Harrison, Quality & Compliance Manager at Global Marine added, “The involvement of people across the organisation, together with support from the senior leadership team, has enabled a smooth transition from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015. By staying ahead of the curve, Global Marine sends a clear message to all customers, both current and future, that it is taking a leading and proactive approach to quality management.”
This accreditation shows a continuing trend of excellence and commitment throughout the business to both Quality and Health & Safety standards. This success follows the recent ROSPA ‘Order of Distinction’ awarded for outstanding performance in health and safety over a period of 17 consecutive years.
Global Marine Systems Limited has recently extended its capabilities at its depot on the south coast of England. Following the installation of a power cable carousel, the company now has the ability to store and manage power cable for owners and operators requiring a strategically placed location to home their most valuable of assets.
The Company’s vast experience in cable storage is already providing customers with peace of mind for their asset integrity management. The Company said one OFTO (Offshore Transmission Owner) client is already utilising the facility’s new capability. The purpose-built secured storage facility offers the ideal environment for the long-term protection of these valuable assets, in particular from Ultra Violet (UV) degradation and large temperature fluctuations, both key criteria for helping to ensure future trouble-free deployment. The facility in Portland, Dorset has been providing fibre optic cable storage for 18 years, and in addition to the new power cable carousels, contains 33 telecoms cable tanks, with a total capacity of 8,750 m3. The site currently stores 2,000km of telecoms cable for a multitude of customers, along with over 3,500 universal joint kits and associated equipment including repeaters, equalisers and branching units.
The site was built to specification and is geared to mobilise with ease between power and fibre optic cabling. The 2,000 tonne cable carousel is equipped with a 10 tonne tensioner and works alongside a 15 tonne quayside tensioner to ensure effective cable handling from vessel to shore, and back.
Portland Port is able to welcome a wide variety of vessels in its deep waters and large dock estate. Berthing right alongside the covered cable storage facility ensures cable handling can be kept to a minimum, reducing any risk of damage through movement and extending the lifespan of the assets. This, alongside favourable road access, provides the perfect platform for efficient cable storage and operations.
The facility is manned by qualified personnel and experienced cable engineers who handle the precious cable with care and are on hand to monitor on-going cable conditions and the wider environment, ensuring assets are well maintained for future use. The facility also completes cable testing as customers require, offering assurance to owners ahead of retrieving the cable from storage for use on installation and maintenance operations.
Global Marine Systems Limited has been successful in the 60th year of the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2016. The company, based in Chelmsford, achieved the Order of Distinction (17 consecutive Golds) award in the prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said, “To win an award at such a highly-regarded event as the RoSPA Awards is a great achievement for our winners. It recognises their commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record and raises the bar for other organisations to aspire to. We offer them our congratulations.”
Captain Simon Hibberd, Director Fleet & Operational Support adds: “The RoSPA award demonstrates Global Marine’s passion and commitment on providing consistently high levels of health and safety. It has been and will always remain a top priority for us as a business. Achieving 17 consecutive years is a real testament to the whole team onshore and in the fleet.”
For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards
Global Marine Systems Limited, the world leader in subsea system design, installation and maintenance, is proud to announce that it has achieved SPS (Special Purpose Ships) notation for its C.S. Sovereign multi-role DPS-2 vessel. The achievement means that C.S. Sovereign can now carry up to 50 people on board over and above the working crew, such as client representatives or project specific personnel. As a result, greater flexibility can now be offered to customers on projects where the C.S. Sovereign is deployed.
The SPS Code, introduced 1983, and updated and revised into the SPS Code 2008, provides an appropriate level of safety for both the vessel and the persons carried. The code has provided a solution, which bridges the gap between the regulations required for either cargo or passenger ships, and already is proving valuable to Global Marine’s customers providing operational flexibility to multiple industry sectors including offshore renewables.
“Gaining SPS notation has taken two years and a lot of hard work in consultation with ABS [our classification society] and the UK Flag State for the vessel in the form of the MCA,” said Captain Simon Hibberd, Director Fleet & Operational Support at Global Marine. “It opens up opportunities for C.S. Sovereign that we previously have not had. It’s been a big undertaking for the ship and crew to achieve, however, this is an important development as the SPS notation offers genuine market differentiation positioning us to meet the demands of the ever changing offshore market.”
Global Marine Systems Limited recently teamed up with the Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation to share its maritime experience and to encourage youngsters to consider future careers at sea. The Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation has been successfully delivering the Buoyed Up scheme to young people throughout Australia and Scotland since 2010 with this year’s programme marking the first of its kind in England.
Alongside classroom sessions and experiences on the water, the Buoyed Up scheme aims to bring Sir Thomas Lipton’s drive, enthusiasm, passion and flair for business to life through practical experiences in enterprise and encounters with inspiring individuals who have made the sea their life. Global Marine was approached by the charity as leaders in their field, many of whom have substantial years of experience in the maritime industry, to take part in the World of Work element of the scheme and to share new ideas and motivation with children for their futures.
In June, 24 year six students, ages 10 to 11, visited from Frobisher Primary School along with their teachers and spent the day at the Global Marine Head Office in Chelmsford. The day began with an introduction from Captain Shaun Beal, an active master aboard Global Marine’s fleet of seven vessels. Captain Beal spoke to the students about the business, the breadth of services and the careers accessible through the industry and his path from starting as a cadet through to gaining his captains epaulettes.
The year six children, all about to embark on life at secondary school, were able to watch a fibre optic cable splice in action as well as learn about how the cable ships and other tools on the vessels work, all facilitating the world to be connected via telephone and internet; something so familiar to all of them. As well as the engineering side of the business, the children also participated in interactive quizzes, testing their world-wide geography knowledge, as well as logical thinking in the form of rope games. As a commercial twist on the day, the company’s marketing team shared some of the techniques used by the business to help promote themselves, something critically important to all organisations; including animations, holograph technology and even the company app bringing the vessels and subsea assets to life.
Miss Herbert, year six teacher at Frobisher School said, “We want to thank Global Marine and the Foundation hugely for the inspiring and motivational day the children spent with them. Taking part in the Buoyed Up initiative fits nicely with the school’s vision of Aim High, Work Hard, Achieve Together. We believe that getting involved in the Sir Thomas Lipton charity will potentially open new doors for the children and enthuse them about their futures. The visit to Global Marine has done just that.”
Laurence Brady from the Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation added, “Our Buoyed Up programme is all about raising the aspirations of pre-teenage children in economically deprived areas through practical experiences of sailing, marine enterprise and the life of Sir Thomas Lipton. It was fantastic to see how the children of Frobisher Primary responded to the eye-opening deep sea workshops and activities at Global Marine. This World of Work experience is a critical part of Buoyed Up. I greatly appreciate the consideration, preparation and generosity of Global Marine for their day with the children, and I very much hope we will continue to work together to inspire more Frobisher Primary pupils.”
Ian Douglas, CEO Global Marine concluded, “At Global Marine, we are keen to encourage education in support of creating a long-term sustainable maritime industry. We have enjoyed working with the Sir Thomas Lipton Foundation and meeting the children from the Frobisher Primary school.”
On Friday 5th August a group of 18 employees from Global Marine Systems Limited, a subsea engineering company based in Chelmsford, Essex, will be donning their lycra and leaving sunny Essex behind as they cycle over 210 miles in two days to Portland in Dorset. The journey starts at the company’s head office and will end at their UK cable storage depot, a facility that supports customers in the telecoms, offshore renewable and oil & gas markets.
The team of amateur and enthusiastic riders will be setting off at 6am from the office just off the Boreham Interchange, before travelling through London, stopping in Winchester overnight and then finally finishing in Portland the following evening.
It is not only a personal challenge for the riders but more importantly an excellent opportunity to raise vital funds for one of Global Marine’s corporate charities, Brainwave (brainwave.org.uk), a national children’s charity with a close link to an employee’s heart. With a centre in Witham, Brainwave aims to improve mobility, communication skills and learning potential through a range of therapies for children with physical, sensory, learning, cognitive and behavioural difficulties.
Global Marine would like to thank our suppliers and other local businesses who have kindly sponsored the event already: Ben Line Agencies, Bollington Insurance, CSCC, Healeys, Keller, L&R Midland, Meachers, The New London Restaurant, Prysmian Group, Quadrant Equipment, Sainsbury’s Springfield, SMD, SSI Energy, Sumitomo and Willis Towers Watson. You can sponsor the team here: justgiving.com/GlobalPedal2016
