Marine Notice No 13 of 2019 advises that a pre-lay grapnel run and route clearance operations will be conducted in Irish waters for three days from tomorrow, Friday 31 May, to Sunday 2 June as part of installation of the marine part of the Havhingsten submarine fibre optic cable system.
The operations schedule is provisional, and will be subject to change due to external factors, including but not limited to weather, equipment or vessel downtime.
The location of the pre-lay grapnel run in Irish waters is indicated by Seg 1.1 in the map featured above, between Lat 53° 50.9' N, Long 004° 59.4' W and Lat 53° 38.6' N, Long 005° 40.5' W.
The pre-lay grapnel run will be completed by the cable ship Ile d’Aix (Callsign FICI). The vessel will be linked to the bottom by the cable and will have poor manoeuvrability capacities. It will signal that it has restricted ability to manoeuvre with shapes and/or lights as required by international regulations.
All vessels are requested to keep a clear distance from the cable laying vessel of at least 0.5 nautical miles. The cable laying vessel will broadcast regular safety messages giving its current position and activity.
