SUB.CO founder Bevan Slattery has updated the market on the progress of the Oman Australia Cable (OAC), with installation due to complete in December of this year.
According to the company, the 9,800km system connecting Muscat, Oman to Perth Australia, has completed its manufacturing process with load 1 of 2 assembled, tested and now being loaded onto a freighter to transfer to the main-lay ship to begin installation from March 2021.
“2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year to commit to building a cable of this scale, but I am delighted that we have achieved 100% of cable production and completed the first load system assembly testing within the original product schedule. This could not have been done without the assistance of our fantastic partners: SubCom,” said Slattery.
“Now with the marine program about to commence, our attention is moving towards landing station readiness, including constructing the terrestrial fronthaul networks and fitting-out cable landing station locations.”
The marine route survey started in October 2020 and the final cable route for load 1 was finalised in December 2020. The full marine route survey is due to be completed in February 2021 and any changes to armouring on load 2 will be made prior to the loading of the cable later that month.
In addition, the Perth seaward cable landing infrastructure construction started in October 2020 and was completed in December 2020. The project entered contract in force status in March 2020.
"We knew that this was going to be a task when we committed to the program back in February 2020, but we also knew we would be up for the challenge,” added David Coughlan, CEO of SubCom,
“Despite everything that has been thrown at us, our team has done an exceptional job to keep this project going, on time, on budget and most importantly, safely.
