Broadband ship idle

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Broadband ship idle as equipment sunk at sea 12/10/14

A giant six-tonne metal plough needed to install super fast braodband network for the Western Isles remains stuck on the seabed.

A delayed specialist salvage operation to try and recover vital broadband cable laying equipment is to get underway later this month

The specially designed bright yellow coloured plough - called Elodie - is a “reliable and efficient” tool which works hard with the minimum of maintenance, claims owner Orange Marine, part of the French-controlled Orange telcoms group.

But for the past four weeks it has been “wrecked” some 100 metres beneath the waves about 2.5 miles north east of North Uist after snagging while laying multi-million pound hi-tech internet cables. ,

The salvage delay is holding up the cable laying element of the £146 million north of Scotland fibre broadband scheme led by economic development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

The two-pronged plough broke off from its mother ship, MV René Descartes, as it was digging a trench through heavy mud to bury miles of expensive fibre optic cable.

It is believed to have jammed on something hard and its strong towline broke during attempts to pull it free as the underwater wires were being buried between Harris and Uist.

No spare plough is onboard the ship and ship-owners Orange Marine have called in salvage experts to attempt to recover the sunken equipment from the eastern entrance to the Sound of Harris, midway between North Uist and Harris.

The maritime authorities have been notified of the danger, which is marked by a surface buoy, and navigational warnings are being broadcasted to seafarers.

A stop-gap is to use a small unmanned underwater vehicle - controlled by an operator onboard the ship to bury cables.

However, a plough is the whole point of the expensive chartering of a specialist ship and is necessary to continue the cable laying operations across the north of Scotland before the weather breaks.

A HIE spokesperson said: “Orange Marine has indicated the work to recover the plough is scheduled for between 21 and 23 October.

“They plan to use a large boat with a winch. The procedure will be to use a ‘mass flow excavator’ tool to loosen up the seabed around the plough.

“The ROV (remotely operated vehicle) will put a sling around it and connect it to the winch and then it will be towed to shallow water.

“It will then be connected to the René Descartes and tow wires and it will brought on-board for inspection.”

She added: “Currently the René Descartes is in Mull. It has laid the Mull to Kilchoan cable and is now burying it with the ROV, just north of Tobermory.”

The salvage was meant to be completed by now to let the large cable-laying ship catch up with her timetable for installing the underwater network.

The plough became stuck in very soft seabed sediments while laying the inter-island South Harris to Uist cable, and during attempts to recover it the tow wire broke.