Hae Cheon, an underwater construction and cable-laying machine maker, has conducted Korea’s first-ever test run of a submarine cable burial, the company said Monday.
A submarine cable is installed in Dadae Port, in waters off the country’s port city Busan. (Hae Cheon Co.)
The completion ceremony was held in Dadae Port, in waters off the country’s southern port city of Busan, last November. It was the first underwater cable burial machine to be researched and developed in Korea. The ceremony was attended by the company’s Chairman Kim Young-il, who established Hae Cheon in 1978 and currently manages five companies.
The submarine cable burial machine was constructed as part of a research and development project to create new value for the firm’s growth, the company said.
Hae Cheon Chairman Kim Young-il (Hae Cheon Co.)
The machine can dig a trench that is 0.7 meters wide and up to 3 meters deep on the ocean floor, while burying an electric cable at 100 to 150 meters per hour.
It can complete the two tasks at up to 100 meters underwater and where the tide moves at a maximum of 1.5 knots (0.7 meters per second), it added. The machine can also complete its job on stiff or very stiff ocean floors.
According to the company, the machine allows operators to check on the process in real time, shifting away from underwater operations dependent on a diver’s cues and experience.
The company has been expanding overseas, establishing local corporations in Ulan Bator, Mongolia and East Timor. It also currently hosts the Consulate of Mongolia to South Korea at its headquarters in Haeundae-gu, Busan.
Hae Cheon is also Korea’s first to install an underwater torpedo net and two high-voltage 154-Kilovolt electric cables, as well as lay a pipeline below seawater, the company said.
In the future, the company said it plans to enter the underwater construction machine business.
By Kim Bo-gyung (
lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)
