Where in the World Are Those Pesky Cable Ships?

By Rebecca Spence
December 2, 2020

Only a few weeks left in the year of endless days, and we are finally starting to see some significant movement in the international cableship fleet. Maritime industries are beginning to figure out how to work through new restrictions and keep their teams safe, which is leading to more So let us talk cableships!

Figure 1: Arrived at Destination

As always, the number of vessels in transit on any given day is solely a snapshot in time. Each vessel declares a new destination every few days, even while working on the same project. At the time this data was collected, there were 9 vessels in transit and 36 at their most recently declared destination. (Figure 1) This trend has remained quite flat since the first dataset was seen in March, staying between 75-85%.

Figure 2: Weeks left in Transit

Of the 9 vessels that are considered in transit, almost half of them have stated that they do not expect to reach their destinations until early 2021. Another 4 will reach their destination at the beginning of November, and the last ship will arrive shortly after. (Figure 2)

Several of the vessels reported that they were at their destinations, but recorded their activities as “Cable Work Area,” “Underwater Operation,” or “Cable Repair.” These are new notes that have not been seen in recent months and is an excellent sign that projects are restarting and actively working. Another significant milestone is the declaration from Cableship Recorder that from October 11 through present they have been working on segment 1.1 and segment 2 of the Malbec Cable System which is in its final stages of implementation. Hopefully, these changes are a sign of better times to come with regards to forward progress in our industry.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 115 of the SubTel Forum Magazine on page 14 or on our archive site here.