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| LS C&S employees organizes submarine cables onboard a ship's turntable at the company's Donghae plant in Gangwon Province. / Courtesy of LS C&S |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Just 2 hours and 40 minutes on a KTX from Seoul Station will bring you to Donghae Station in Gangwon Province, a rural district with a population of a mere 96,000.
The location is home to LS Cable and System (C&S), Asia's largest submarine cable manufacturer and its plant has become a renowned landmark in the area since it was first established in 2009.
"We are a major conglomerate located in the city, and we try to work with and give back to the local community," an LS C&S official said.
Just a five minute taxi ride away, is LS C&S Donghae plant, where it is the norm to see workers with hardhats, busy producing and preparing cables for export overseas.
The cables produced at the LS C&S Donghae plant travel through a 260 meter exclusive rail that directly connects to ships' large turntables where the 30 centimeter diameter cables are neatly coiled.
"Due to the weight of the cables, they are loaded five to six meters per minute, we rotate in three shifts working around the clock. It depends on the length and size of the cable, but when loading a 50 kilometer cable it takes over two weeks," said Lee Wook, deputy manager of the submarine cable production team at LS C&S.
All submarine cable companies around the globe are located near the shore as the ocean is the only means to transport hundreds of kilometers of cables.
"Another reason to be near shore is that the cables are routed directly onboard the ship through a rail from the plant," Kim Weon-bae, head of the submarine production division at the plant, said. "There are no cable ships that can transport 1,000 kilometers of cable. Instead we transport 100 kilometer sections at a time and connect the cables on location."
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| Hundreds of kilometers of submarine cables are wrapped around a turntable at the LS C&S Donghae plant in Gangwon Province. / Courtesy of LS C&S |
When visiting the plant on November 19, LS C&S workers were loading up cables on a ship bound for Taiwan.
The submarine cables that were being loaded were headed to an offshore wind power complex being built off the coast of the western part of the country. LS C&S plans to ship a total of 130 kilometers of submarine cables to the site. In Taiwan alone, LS C&S procured a 500 billion won contract last year. This year, the company has signed a total of 300 billion won in cable contracts in the U.S., the Netherlands and Bahrain.
In May, LS C&S procured a 66 billion submarine cable deal in the U.S. and has been targeting the European and African market to increase future sales as those countries have been working to expand their renewable energy sector.
LS C&S is Asia's largest firm specializing in submarine cables and has been operating around the clock since its establishment in 2009 to meet constant demand. The Donghae plant spans 216,900 square meters and produces submarine and industrial cables.
Since it was established, the plant has expanded its production capacity over 2.5 times and exports its submarine cables around the world. The competitiveness within the industry is determined by how well and long a firm successfully connects submarine cables over hundreds of kilometers underwater.
"A submarine cable company's competitiveness lies on how it connects the cables as well as its production capabilities ― how many large manufacturing facilities it has," an LS C&S official said. "Since the cables are laid underwater it requires a great deal of technical skill to develop longer and thicker cables."
The submarine cables produced are a critical construction component for offshore wind generators as they transport electricity back to land. There are only five cable companies in the world ― the others in Europe and Japan ― that have the capability to produce very high-pressure resistant submarine cables. LS C&S Donghae plant is the only one in the country with this technology.
"Our submarine cables' designed lifespan is over 30 years. Enabling them to endure the harsh underwater environment and prevent corrosion is our key technological strength," Lee said.
Due to the expected surge in demand, LS C&S constructed an additional plant in April and has commenced mass production of submarine cables there.
Most of the company's manufacturing facilities have been self-developed. Once walking into the plant it is hard not to notice the 50 meter vertical cabling machine, of which only five units exist globally, as well as numerous turntables that can accommodate up to 10,000 tons of cable.
"We are currently developing several additional turntables to temporarily store cables as there has been a soar in demand and we expect that to drastically increase in the coming years," an LS C&S official said.
COVID-19 has also taken its part in surging demand increasing the number of countries adopting and transitioning to renewable energy.
