wiredInUSA - November 2016
34
The specialized undersea cable ship
Ile
de Re
docked in Auckland in October,
en route to the Tasman Sea where it will
continue laying the final section of the
Tasman global access (TGA) undersea
cable.
Telecommunications companies Spark,
Vodafone and Telstra are investing
approximately $100 million to build the
TGA cable, which will stretch 2,300km from
Ngarunui Beach in Raglan, to Narrabeen
Beach in Australia.
Vodafone Wholesale director Steve
Rieger said: “The
Ile De Re
is responsible
for building or maintaining more than
50,000km of submarine cable systems
throughout the South Pacific – it is a very
impressive vessel that is capable of some
remarkable feats of engineering.”
Weighing 5,378 tonnes, and over 140m
long, the ship was in port for a day before
returning to the Tasman Sea to lay the
final stretch of cable and connect it to
the Raglan landing. The TGA cable is
expected to start carrying data across the
Tasman at the start of 2017.
Cable-laying ship
comes to port
Sri Lanka-based Kelani Cables PLC has
held its annual dealer convention for
its enameled wire dealers. The event,
headed by Kelani Cables PLC director
and CEO Mahinda Saranapala, was held
at Taj Samudra Hotel and attended by
140 dealers from across the island.
Mahinda Saranapala said the enameled
wire wing could be treated as the
backbone of Kelani Cables: “Our dealers
contribute immensely to the company’s
forward march. They are the live-wire
behind achieving our sales targets year
by year. Thus, we treat this friendly get
together as an occasion that adds value
to their business success. This is recognition
for their commitment.”
Kelani Cables is ISO 9000:2008 certified
for quality, ISO 14001:2004 certified for
better environment management, has a
National Standards award and is a Gold
winner of the Taiki Akimoto 5S award. In
2015, the company was given an Asia’s
best employer award.
Enameled wire
convention