FEATURE
STATUS REPORT ON THE SUCCESSES IN USING FOREIGN SHIPS TO LAY SUBMARINE CABLES IN CANADA BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS BILODEAU
L
ast year, I wrote an article in this publication on the installation of undersea fibre-optic cables and the difficulty in using a foreign ship to install or repair of undersea cables in Canada. In particular, I referred to the Alcatel Submarine Networks coasting trade application and the Decision of the Canadian Transportation Agency issued on April 16, 2021. Contrary to the message that might have been conveyed in the article, many foreign vessels are regularly used in Canada to perform specialized transportation such as the live transportation of juvenile and grower salmon, using
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a mobile offshore drilling unit registered in Panama, to undertake drilling services for the exploration and development of petroleum resources off the east/southeast coast of Newfoundland, the use of a dive support ship registered in Isle of Man, to complete the 2022 Subsea Project in the Terra Nova oil field, the use the “IT INTREPID”, a cable ship registered in Barbados, to install, lay and bury a new undersea fibre communication cable between Sept-Îles and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Quebec, the use of a seismic support ship registered in Bahamas, to support the operations of one seismic research ship by facilitating crew changes