Global Marine Systems Limited, the world leader in subsea system design, installation and maintenance, has completed operations and has installed approximately 380km of OCC SC500 fibre optic cable between the Japanese island of Okinawa and an existing branching unit (BU) in the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) system. This extension of the 7,200km intra-Asia cable system, which was completed in 2012, connects Japan to the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Appointed to the contract by NTT World Engineering Marine Corp (NTT WEM) via Global Marine’s Singapore operation, cable was landed from the vessel via direct shore ends at the southern tip of Okinawa before being laid to the BU of ASE. The BU stub end was recovered and jointing operations conducted, additionally PP duct fibre optic cable protection was installed to provide added protection for system security.
“As an experienced operator in the Asia region, we are ideally placed to offer rapid response to short project deadlines,” states Andy Lloyd, Director, Installation at Global Marine. “With operations completed within a small timeframe, we are demonstrating how our professional team can work together to fulfil client needs, no matter how demanding.”
Masashi Nakagawa, Senior Project Manager at NTTWEM added, “We are very pleased to work with the Global Marine team and utilise a high performance installation vessel like the Cable Innovator for this important project.”