Energy and marine consultancy ABL Group has provided marine warranty surveyor (MWS) services in relation to the transportation and delivery of cable drums for TenneT’s Sued Ost Link project.
The Sued Ost Link, Project 5, is a 525 kV high-voltage DC 2GW underground cable system.
It is one of the longest HVDCs in the world at more than 530 km, enabling the transmission of renewable energy from northern to southern Germany.
Under the scope of work, ABL provides MWS review and approvals for the loadout, sailaway, loading and discharge operations of warranted items.
Cable-related cargo is being transported from Prysmian Group’s production facility in Gron, France, via the French river system to Radicatel.
In Radicatel the cable drums are loaded to seagoing vessels which transport them to Rotterdam.
The drums are then transferred onto Rhine barges for trans-shipment to Regensburg, Germany.
One cable drum carries about 1.75 km of underground cable and has a weight of about 80 tonnes.
“The total of 300 cable drums has a combined weight of around 24,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to the weight of more than three Eiffel Towers,” said Chrysa Vlachou, ABL’s project manager for the Sued Ost Link MWS project, and naval architect in ABL’s German office.
ABL’s operation in Hamburg was appointed in 2021 by TenneT to provide MWS services for the marine transportation of project critical items relating to the Sued Ost cable.
The project was awarded to ABL under a framework agreement signed with TenneT in 2020.