This Is One of the Most Complex Jobs We Have Ever Done

Earlier this week the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (hereinafter – LVRTC) was visited by the crew of the Finnish company Lilaco Offshore Ltd vessel TELEPAATTI – a team that carried out repairs on the LVRTC-owned submarine fiber optic cable in the Baltic Sea in February.

The ship’s crew specialists met with the LVRTC board and employees to discuss the progress of the cable repair, which began on February 3 and was completed less than four weeks later. Lilaco Offshore Ltd is a company with almost 50 years of experience and during the meeting, its manager emphasized that “this was one of the most complex jobs we have ever done”. During the meeting, the challenges and lessons learned regarding both the specifics of the seabed and the specifics and experience of the cable repair work were discussed, which will allow for better preparation if such tasks have to be carried out in the future.

“The repair of the damage to the underwater fiber optic cable between Latvia and Gotland was very complex and full of challenges. The damage was in the open sea, in a place where there is a strong impact of winds and waves from all directions. The conditions in the Baltic Sea in winter are quite challenging and due to the weather conditions we even had to stop the work, as the wave height exceeded six meters. The damage location was in the path of intense ship traffic, which caused a lot of additional waves from passing ships. It should be emphasized that our divers also had to be involved in the work and in such high waves the work is very dangerous. The air temperature fluctuated from plus to minus degrees Celsius, causing slight icing on the ship’s deck, making it very slippery, which created additional safety risks and difficulties for the work,” emphasized Olli-Petteri Linnaluoto, CEO of Lilaco Offshore, during the meeting.

In total, 18 crew members were involved in the work, and most of them also visited the Zaķusala TV tower to get acquainted with the infrastructure, an important part of which is the submarine fiber-optic cable, the damage to which the team repaired.

“We are truly pleased to meet the ship’s crew, whose perseverance, professionalism and determination were stronger than the challenges posed by the weather conditions, the seabed and the specifics of the cable construction. Throughout February, we worked hand in hand to complete a very important task as quickly, safely and technically as possible – to restore the shortest communication route from Latvia to the Scandinavian countries. The experts had to discover how to retrieve the ends of the damaged cable from the clay bed at a depth of more than 100m, taking into account the fact that the clay has covered the cable for almost 20 years,” says Ģirts Ozols, Chairman of the Board of the Latvia State Radio and Television Centre.

The CEO of Lilaco Offshore also admits that it was not an easy task: “We had to build and adapt the equipment to the actual situation. Then we carefully developed the work algorithm and tested the procedure and equipment on land before going to sea again.”

The production of underwater marine fiber optic cable joints is a specific job that requires specially trained people and specially made underwater joints that will withstand the extreme water pressure deep in the seabed. The work was carried out 24 hours a day, interrupted only by weather conditions or to go ashore to create equipment specifically suited to these works.