Aquatic Engineering and Construction Ltd, an Acteon company, has been awarded a contract to lay power cables for the main provider of electricity in British Columbia, Canada. Aquatic will deliver a multi-reel solution making the operation faster and supporting its partners to manage costs and resources.

The shallow water project will commence later this week in the tidal estuary of the Strait of Georgia. Aquatic will be laying approximately 15 km of 87 mm diameter electrical power cable, and will be operating in a busy shipping lane between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, close to the US border.

Aquatic’s multi-reel solution enables the project vessel to perform fewer of the 230 km trips between the quayside and the project site, and effectively reduces the barge transit distance by 2000 km. The solution will provide considerable time and craneage cost savings by having all four reels loaded on the vessel at the start of the project, rather than mobilised individually.

The equipment was mobilized from Aquatic’s US base at Morgan City, Louisiana. Having a full suite of equipment in North America enabled Aquatic to swiftly respond once the project date had been agreed.

Richard Charles, sales and business development manager, Aquatic, said, “Our recent successes, such as the umbilical installation project with Mermaid Subsea Services in the Middle East earlier this year1, have demonstrated our multi-reel capability and expertise in delivering an integrated managed service. Our people and equipment, once mobilised, will partner with the subcontractor’s teams effectively, within the agreed timescales (weather permitting) and to budget.”