Alcatel Ships Cable for NorthStar Undersea System

WCI Cable Inc. (Hillsboro, OR) reports that more than half of the submarine fiber optic cable (1,100 miles) for the Northstar cable system was shipped on March 25, 1999 from an Alcatel (Paris) factory near Sydney, Australia. AMP Life Ltd. and an Australian investment company formed WCI to build the system in 1997. WCI reports that the project is on schedule to begin service in late September 1999.

Northstar is undersea cable system that will connect Alaska to the continental US. It interconnects with a terrestrial network owned by Alaska Fiber Star, a Northstar affiliate, at a jointly managed network operations facility in Anchorage.

Two thirds of the cable used for the route of the main lay from Whittier to Nedonna Beach was manufactured at Alcatel's Port Botany plant in Australia. Alcatel integrated the cable with repeaters built at its Greenwich plant in the UK. The equipment includes lightweight cable for deep water and armored cable to be laid from Whittier through Prince William Sound. Alcatel's Portland, OR plant is building the remainder of the cable for the shore end at Nedonna Beach and for the segment to Lena Point.

By March 24, 1,100 miles of cable had been loaded aboard the Dutch freighter M.V. Lauriergracht. After a final test of the cable and repeaters, the Lauriergracht slipped its moorings at daybreak on March 25, 1999 departing for the Gulf of Alaska.

The Lauriergracht, specially modified to accommodate submarine fiber optic cable, will transport the cable to Portland, OR. In Portland, the cable will be loaded onto the C.S. Fu Lai, and the C.S. Maersk Fighter. These two vessels will commence the lay in April, when the Fu Lai will have completed work on the China-US cable lay. The Maersk Fighter has just completed laying part of the SEA-ME-WE 3 cable in the South China Sea.

Alcatel will begin beach and shore landing operations on the Oregon coast in April using the Maersk Fighter. The Maersk Fighter will conduct three shore landings for NorthStar: one at Whittier, AL, one at Lena Point, AL, and one at Nedonna Beach, OR while the Fu Lai will concurrently lay the lightweight cable.