Transpower Cable Installation
When an ageing fibre-optic cable located on Cook Strait’s seabed needed to be removed and replaced, the Seaworks team contributed specialist expertise, extensive experience and purpose-specific equipment to getting the job done.
Seaworks has a 40-year connection with the Strait through its enduring partnership with the project leader, Transpower – a state-owned enterprise that owns cables in the underwater zone allocated specifically to New Zealand’s power and fibre-optic telecommunications cables. We’ve recorded more than 10,000 days of operations there, on projects ranging from cable inspections and zone patrols to cable laying, maintenance and recovery.
In this case our role was two-fold:
- To support Transpower’s cable-replacement programme by surveying a potential new cable route (using a multibeam echosounder),developing and preparing the chosen route and working with contractor TE SubCom to recover more than 100 kilometres of now-out-of-service cable to provide room for the new cable – a process that took six 24-hour days to complete.
- To contribute our local knowledge, technical expertise and ROV support to an international deep water installation contractor's work in installing the new cable’s shore-end landings at Oteranga Bay (North Island) and Fighting Bay (South Island) – work that was complicated by on-shore reefs at Oteranga and a narrow weather window at Fighting Bay. The cable, once on the beach, was installed in pre-excavated trenches, with the team having to control cable tension and alignment throughout the cable shore end landing and submerging process.
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This was a significant project for the Seaworks team, particularly given the exposed and rugged locations and the challenges of working and coordinating operations in a tidal environment. It required a wide range of resources and technical capabilities, meticulous planning for all contingencies and a huge commitment from the large number of Seaworks staff and contractors who made up our team. It’s something special to think about should you ever cross Cook Strait!
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