• Subsea Cable Assets is adding 4,000- and 6,000-tonne cable carousels to a new rental service and has secured a first European contract for both systems
  • Customers can combine the rental equipment with loading, cable-handling, mobilisation and operational support for individual projects

The fact

Subsea Cable Assets has launched a cable-carousel rental service following a multi-million-dollar investment in two new systems with capacities of 4,000 and 6,000 tonnes. The company has already secured a first rental contract with an unnamed European customer covering both carousels.

The systems are designed for storing, loading and handling cables, flexibles and umbilicals during onshore and offshore projects. SCA said their design allows them to be reconfigured for different requirements, while customers can also take loading equipment, cable-handling services, mobilisation support and operational assistance alongside the rental.

SCA operates engineering and manufacturing facilities in Europe and Dubai. The company says it has delivered more than 50 carousel systems worldwide, including units with capacities of up to 12,000 tonnes, for offshore wind, interconnector, oil and gas and other subsea projects.

The assessment

The rental service gives contractors another way to secure cable-handling equipment for a defined project window. A carousel may be needed during storage, loading and mobilisation, but buying one also leaves its owner responsible for the asset after that particular campaign ends. Renting allows a customer to obtain the required capacity for the project while SCA retains the equipment for later use.

That does not mean renting will always cost less. The economics will depend on the length of the rental, mobilisation, reconfiguration and how frequently a contractor would otherwise use an owned system. Availability could also become a scheduling issue when several projects require large carousels at the same time.

For BTW readers, the operational change is that carousel capacity can now be procured as a temporary project service rather than only as a purchased asset. The first European contract will provide an early indication of how contractors use that option in practice.

What to watch

Watch for SCA to identify the project behind its first European rental contract and confirm when the two systems enter service. Further contracts, mobilisation locations and rental durations would show how frequently customers are choosing temporary carousel capacity. Fleet expansion would provide stronger evidence that SCA is seeing repeat demand for the model.