Orange Marine’s cable-laying ship CS Teliri has suffered a propulsion breakdown en route to Trapani, Italy.
According to industry observer Philippe Devaux in a recent LinkedIn post, the ship suffered water ingress and propulsion problems after leaving Calais on February 28.
The CS Teliri was hauling the Unitirreno cable, which was scheduled to start laying from Trapani in Sicily.
The high-sea emergency tug CS Abeille Bourbon left Brest on March 2 to assist the stranded vessel. The CS Teliri was reportedly stranded around 200 nautical miles from Penmarch in France.
The two ships safely reached Brest on March 4.
The rollout of the Unitirreno cable began last month. Expected to be completed in June this year, the 1,200km cable will land in four points across Italy, offering 480Tbps across 24 fiber pairs.
The CS Teliri, which sails under the Italian flag, was first built in 1996. The vessel was previously owned by Elettra, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia, before Orange Marine took control of Elettra in 2010.
In a statement to DCD, Elettra confirmed the breakdown and added: "Currently berthed, the Teliri is undergoing an inspection to plan the necessary repairs for the resumption of its activities. Elettra expresses its sincere gratitude to the Abeille Bourbon and its crew for their responsiveness and mobilization."
The company did not disclose how long repairs are expected to take and what this means for the Unitirenno cable.
The Teliri completed the Med Nautilus subsea cable - which connects Greece and Turkey - in 2010.
The vessel found itself in the middle of an international quibble last year when it was laying a subsea cable in the Mediterranean. Turkish authorities claimed the Italian ship was operating in Turkish waters without permission, while Greek authorities said the ship was operating legally in Greek waters.
Orange Marine has other cable-laying ships, including CS Descartes, CS Pierre de Fermat, and CS Antonio Meucci. Also part of the fleet are CS Sophie Germain and CS Leon Thévenin, CS Urbano Monti; operating on maintenance or survey agreements. The CS Leon Thévenin was involved in the repair of the SAT–3 cable in West Africa last year.
The latest ship to join the fleet, CS Pierre de Fermat, can operate during maintenance and installation missions on telecom and power cables.
Orange Marine controls and operates around 15 percent of the world's cable ships. Impressive though that may seem, such ships are few and far between. The industry has long suffered from a shortage of repair and cable-laying ships, and this capacity crunch has seen many projects delayed and rerouted.
