By OMM

Offshore Marine Management (OMM) has entered into a phased agreement with European logistics specialists, Rhenus Group to develop a dedicated subsea cable storage facility on the German coast at Nordenham, on land adjacent to Rhenus Midgard´s facility with immediate capacity available.

OMM will immediately offer a carousel and a cable cage to the market and the agreement includes plans for a significantly larger facility that will most likely include multiple carousels.

OMM, who will provide the specialist cable expertise and market the facility, is a global independent provider of bespoke marine solutions offering an extensive range of products and services to the offshore renewables, subsea telecoms and oil and gas industries.

Rhenus, who will provide the physical asset base and handling services, specialise in port handling and shipping among other services.

This agreement will increase OMM’s cable storage capacity, adding to its facility on the East coast of the UK that is under development. Such dedicated facilities enable OMM to correctly store developers’ infield and export cables, maintaining and verifying their condition and improving their lifespan – which is often not the case in the industry.

OMM’s Operations and Maintenance Director, Stephen Bolton said this agreement strengthens the company’s ability to provide a tailored operations and maintenance service to clients who own cables, allowing them to react quickly when repair or replacement is required.

“With cable storage facilities in the UK and now Germany as well as more in the pipeline, OMM continues to offer the broadest possible range of sub-sea operations and maintenance solutions for clients working in both the North Sea and the German Bight,” Mr Bolton said.

Combined with OMM’s structured approach to sub-sea operations and maintenance – including cable repair and vessel supply – these storage facilities are expected to significantly reduce the time and cost of subsea cable repairs. Critical to OMM’s choice of locations has been the suitability of partners such as Rhenus, a market leader in its field with skills that complement OMM’s perfectly.