Dynamic connections
JDR Cable Systems is a global specialist in high-specification marine cables and umbilicals for communications, seismic exploration and more besides, as Ruari McCallion discovers.
JDR Cable Systems was born in 1994, the result of a merger between two companies, Jacques Cable Systems and De Regt Special Cable. ÔÇ£The company started as a producer of diversÔÇÖ umbilicals for the North Sea market, for working in relatively shallow waters,ÔÇØ explains Patrick Phelan, managing director of the umbilical and subsea power cable division based at Littleport, Cambridgeshire, UK.
JDRÔÇÖs market has now expanded and changedÔÇöa lot. ÔÇ£Our subsea products can be permanently installed on the sea bed, providing hydraulic and electrical control to offshore oil and gas production fields,ÔÇØ says Phelan.
Some of the cables JDR makes can be as long as 50 kilometres in a single length, supplied to customers from a turntable or carousel that can measure up to 30 metres in diameter. ThatÔÇÖs a pretty bulky item to shift; and transportation from Littleport to a deep-water facility is, at best, inconvenient for the company and for other road users. So at the beginning of 2008, the company began developing a new facility at Hartlepool, located on the UKÔÇÖs east coast, that will specialise in the production of the larger-specification cables.
ÔÇ£We developed into the production of subsea power cables about eight years ago. We did those from LittleportÔÇöup to about 100 tonnesÔÇöand we are continuing to serve that market from our original site,ÔÇØ says Phelan. ÔÇ£In 2005 we supplied our first offshore wind farm, the Beatrice demonstrator.ÔÇØ The cables are rated to 33 kilovolts and JDRÔÇÖs specialism is the pull-in process, which involves connection to the turbines and to the control station. It recently won a contract to supply an offshore wind farm containing up to 140 turbines, which means 280 cable ends.
ÔÇ£We have been using our expertise to develop the termination and pull-in systems to make fast, efficient and reliable cables and systems for the offshore wind market,ÔÇØ Phelan explains. ÔÇ£Our plant at Hartlepool is now making product of 100 to 200 tonnes, which will be spooled directly onto the transport reel and loaded at the quay by crane. We can supply up to 2,200 tonnes in a single length, spooled directly onto the ship at the quayside. We expect there will be a continuing trend to longer and larger cables, able to operate at higher pressures and serving oil and gas fields in deeper waters. Littleport will focus on intervention cables, with powered reels, the kind that are temporarily deployed and then brought back on-board.ÔÇØ
The cables the company makes are complex pieces of equipment, containing within a single housing copper wire, fibre optics and other cores that carry all the information needed to run an energy field remotely. JDR also has an operation in the Netherlands, which specialises in seismic cables.
ÔÇ£We make dynamic cables, which are towed by ships, submarines, scientific and research boats, or tied to a buoy and connected from the seabed to a satellite antenna,ÔÇØ explains Han Van Veen, managing director of JDR Marine Cables, based in Krimpen aan de Lek, near Rotterdam. It too has a quayside facility, which it moved into in 2007. It is the only European producerÔÇöand is a leaderÔÇöin its market for torpedo defence systems and submarine warfare. But 60 to 70 per cent of its business is seismic arrays for the oil and gas markets.
ÔÇ£If you have a tow cable or remote equipment you require information from, you want to have the cable as small as possible, for the least resistance and weight,ÔÇØ says Van Veen. ÔÇ£It has to be tough and reliable; the last thing a customer wants is for activities to be held up because one of the cores has failed.ÔÇØ
The cables are built up from scratch, starting with copper wire and adding steel, fibre optics and other materials as required. One of the challenges is to build in all the required functions and materials into a single housing and then ensure that they are shielded from each other, to prevent interference.
ÔÇ£Our new factory was purpose-built for us,ÔÇØ Van Veen continues. ÔÇ£We invested Ôé¼7 to Ôé¼8 million in new machinery and upgrading our existing equipment, including the controls and computers behind them.ÔÇØ The company both supplies the original equipment to the end user and provides after-sales support, which is growing in importance both as an activity and as a revenue source.
For both sides of the operation, the fact that their cables tend to be task-specific means that it is difficult to achieve economies through standardised production systems.
ÔÇ£Our objective is to deliver on schedule so we focus on ensuring we donÔÇÖt have quality problems,ÔÇØ says Van Veen. ÔÇ£We donÔÇÖt start building the product until we are 100 per cent sure we will finish on time, so our preparation is very thorough. We are currently implementing a new planning module, which is better connected than our existing model. By the end of next month, we expect to see more efficiencies and a better view of our priorities.ÔÇØ
In the UK, PhelanÔÇÖs operation has been consulting with the Manufacturing Advisory Service and working with the South West Development Agency for a few years, and itÔÇÖs about to have another development session. It has introduced a battery back-up UPS system to protect it against the possibility of power outages, as once production of a cable starts, it must not be interrupted, whatever the market it is intended for.
As well as oil, gas, wind and dynamic applications, the company, which has revenues in the region of ┬ú76 million, is now expanding into wave power applications. ÔÇ£We recently won our first wave energy contract, with Wave Hub in the West Country. ItÔÇÖs the worldÔÇÖs largest wave energy project,ÔÇØ says Phelan. ÔÇ£We will be making a 25 kilometre cable weighing over 1500 tonnes, which will be delivered directly onto the transport ship.ÔÇØ
