Inauguration of the new submarine cable plant of NSW5/27/2009 Represented an investment of 40 million euros and will be devoted mainly to marine wind farm projects
Coinciding with its 110th anniversary, the German cablemaking company Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW), a General Cable subsidiary, has just inaugurated a new submarine cable production plant in the town of Nordenham. The inaugural event was presided over by Christian Wulff, prime minister of the lander Lower Saxony, who was accompanied by Jack Welsh, President of the Supervisory Board of General Cable Corporation, Greg Kenny, President of the Board of Directors of General Cable Corporation, and Domingo Goenaga, Chairman of General Cable Europe and North Africa.
“This is where we are going to manufacture the submarine energy cables of the greatest length, diameter and weight”, explained Valentin Jug, Chairman of NSW, adding that the company is progressing toward new business opportunities, since it also has capacity to manufacture high voltage cables, intended to link the marine wind farms with the receiving substations on land. General Cable’s German subsidiary can also manufacture submarine cables for the extraction operations of the oil and gas industries. “And we are likewise expanding our business to the sphere of island links, as we are currently installing the first submarine electric link to the island of Helgoland for the company E.ON Hanse AG “, Jug indicated.
7,000 square metres
The new cable manufacturing plant is situated next to the mouth of the River Weser and represented an investment of over 40 million euros by General Cable, which acquired NSW in 2007. The recently inaugurated factory has a surface area of 7,000 square metres, with a length of 150 metres and a height of 15. “The machines installed are among the biggest in the world in their speciality”, according to Rudolf Stahl, General Manager responsible for sales, marketing and project implementation of NSW. A large space has been fitted out next to the plant for the storage of cables, with a capacity for several thousand tons. “With the new jobs created, the total employees already amount to 550 in this plant, which is the only submarine cables plant in Germany”, stressed Rudolf Stahl.
NSW has already obtained orders from the first two German marine wind farms, situated in the North Sea. Within the Alpha Ventus pilot project, which is being developed 45 kilometres from the coast of Borkum, 12 wind farms with a capacity of 5 megawatts each are being built, in which NSW will supply and install the cables. It will also manufacture them for the BARD 1 wind farm. Moreover, this summer a further 80 wind turbines are going to be installed to the north-west of the island of Borkum, and NSW has also obtained the first cable order in the Baltic Sea, specifically for the company E.ON Sverige AB, which will allocate them to the Rodsand II marine wind farm, which will generate a power of 200 MW and will supply electricity to some 200,000 homes.
To undertake these big projects with guarantees, NSW has reached collaboration agreements with its partner Hans Schramm & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG and with the engineering company Tiefbau-GmbH "Unterweser" (TAGU), a company from the Ludwig Freytag Group, which built NSW’s boat (called Nostag 10), to help with the laying of the cables, and which was recently launched.
About Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW)
For over a century, NSW has been one of the world’s leading companies in the manufacture of submarine cables, aerial cables and special cables for maritime and land applications. Founded in the city of Cologne in 1899, in the year 1904 it manufactured its first big telecommunications submarine cable, with a length of 7,993 kilometres. It currently has its headquarters in the town of Nordenham and has a regional sales office in the United Kingdom. It has over 500 employees and supplies cables to customers worldwide. Since 2007, NSW has belonged to General Cable Corporation Group which, with a turnover of almost 6 billion dollars and a workforce of over 12,000 employees, is one of the world leaders in cable manufacture. Within the group’s international structure, NSW forms part of General Cable Europe and North Africa, managed from the company’s headquarters in Barcelona.
About General Cable
General Cable is a leading company in the manufacture of cables on an international level. It has modern production facilities worldwide, on the basis of three big geographic regions (North America, Europe and North Africa, and rest of the world), giving direct employment to over 12,000 people. With a hundred-year-old tradition, General Cable is one of the sector’s historical companies, and through its activity it contributes decisively to the progress of society and to improving the quality of life of people.
It has a very broad range of cables, going from energy cables to telecommunications cables, and including electric cables, for construction, data transmission, instrumentation and control, special and high voltage cables. General Cable’s philosophy is based on a series of fundamental pillars: corporate responsibility in relations with customers, suppliers and employees; an absolute commitment to respect the environment; a pledge to innovation; and the “One Company-connecting the world” concept, which summarizes its capacity to become a sole supplier prepared to respond to all the needs of its customers, wherever they are in the world.
The company’s activities in Europe are centralized through General Cable Europe and North Africa, which has approximately 5,000 employees and production plants in Abrera, Montcada and Manlleu (all three in the province of Barcelona), Vitoria (Alava), Montereau (France), Nordenham (Germany), Morelena (Portugal), Biskra (Algeria) and Luanda (Angola). For further information: www.generalcable.es
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