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wiredInUSA - September 2015
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ASIA / AFRICA NEWS
INDEXOptic Marine Services Group (OMS)
has launched a new submarine cable
installation barge, Cable Orchestra. The
$15 million shore-end cable laying barge
has beencustombuilt for cable installation
in water depths of up to 40m.
OMS chief executive officer Ronnie Lim
Hai Liang explained that Cable Orchestra
will be capable of installing as much as
5km of cable per day, depending on
seabed conditions. “It has the capacity to
carry 700 tonnes of cables, that equates
to about 200km,” he added.
In September, Cable Orchestra will start
work on a segment of the 20,000km
SEA-ME-WE 5 submarine cable system,
expected to last about 8 months. Lim said
that OMS plans to venture into deeper
waters, to depths of 50m to 3,000m, when
it acquires its next cable ship in 2017.
New ship in good shape
Optical fiber preform, optical fiber and
optical cable account, respectively, for
70 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of
the total profit of the optical fiber industry
chain.
A global and China optical fiber preform
industry report, 2014-2017, shows preform
capacity amounted to 13,000 tons in
2014, mainly in the US, Japan and China.
China ranked first with a share of 39.8
percent. Amajor producer of optical fiber
preform, China is also a large consumer,
demanding 6,639 tons in 2014, 60.9
percent of global demand. The figure
is expected to increase to 7,144 tons in
2015.
Prior to 2010, due to technical limitations,
over 70 percent of China's demand for
optical fiber preform was imported. In
recent years, as domestic companies
have enhanced their capability for
independent research and development,
China's optical fiber preform production
capacity has continued to expand.
The self-sufficiency rate in optical fiber
preform rose from 20 percent in 2007 to
64.4 percent in 2014. It is expected to
reach 72.6 percent in 2015.
Preform progress