1995

SBSS was established in Shanghai as a Joint Venture between Telecom Bureau of Ministry of Post and Telecoms of China and Great Eastern Telecommunications of the United Kingdom, positioning the company as a strategic alignment between the two countries in the submarine cable systems sector.

SBSS owned a fleet of three including CS Fu Lai (ex- Flexiservice 3), You Dian 1 and Hong Yan 6 and delivered its first project in China-Korea Cable System, 540km cable installation between China and South Korea.

Joint Venture Agreement Signing Ceremony

1996

SBSS installed more than 1,300km submarine cable on the Asia Pacific Cable Network(APCN), a 12,000km pan-Asia submarine cable system linking Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Working Onboard CS Fu Lai on APCN

1997

SBSS entered into the Yokohama Zone Maintenance Agreement and has provided maintenance and repair services to our customers for over 23 years.

CS Fu Lai

1998

SBSS’s purpose-built depot, ideally located next to Wujing Port on the Huangpu River, was approved by China Customs. The Wujing Depot now has a total storage capacity of 3,841m³ containing 20 cable tanks, 18 of which are custom-bonded, offering our customers a strategic location to home their valuable assets.

SBSS Wujing Depot

1999

Global Crossing Ltd took over from Great Eastern Telecommunications as the new shareholder of SBSS. Also, the company completed its first project in the US by installing 2,457km submarine cable between Alaska and Oregon for the Northstar Cable System developed by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN).

SBSS Attending PIOCMA Conference in Portland

2000

The year 2000 was a year of asset acquisition. The company further strengthened its fleet capability through the long-term charter of CS Fu Hai (formerly Maersk Repeater) and the purchase of newbuild cable-lay barge Fu Xing. The ST202 ROV and 3m Hi-Plough were also purchased which significantly enhanced SBSS’s portfolio of service offerings to the market.

CS Fu Hai (formerly Maersk Repeater) Chartering Ceremony

2001

SBSS installed over 4,800km of submarine cable on APCN 2 and successfully completed 3m burial work utilizing the newly equipped Hi-Plough.

Hi-Plough

2002

SBSS engaged in a series of high-profile installation projects including China-US Rerouting, Zhoushan Six Islands Interconnector, APCN 2 and China Railcom Hainan. By the end of 2002, the company had installed over 25,000km submarine fiber optic cable worldwide.

CS Fu Hai

2003

SBSS stepped into the O&G and Power Cable sector through collaboration with Hallin Marine and COOEC. CS Fu Lai, a DP2 multi-purpose vessel, provided pipeline trenching and the installation of 4km 15kV cable in the CNOOC Dong Fang 1-1 Gas Field.

Dong Fang 1-1 Gas Field Installation Site

2004

SBSS reinforced its partnership with Hallin Marine in the O&G sector and successfully completed multiple diving support and pipeline trenching projects worldwide including PY#3 Flowline Repair in India, Langsa FPSO Flowline Survey in Indonesia and Lamma Gas Pipeline Crossing Pre-lay Route Survey in Hongkong. Mr.Ian Douglas, a former Managing Director of SBSS and now the CEO of Global Marine Group, was proudly awarded the “Frienship Award” by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.

Supporting PY#3 Flowline Repair in India

2005

Global Marine Systems Ltd took over as the new shareholder of SBSS. The company delivered its first project in Australia by providing post-lay inspection and burial services on the Basslink Interconnector for Pirelli.

CS Fu Lai Sailing in front of the Sydney Opera House

2006

CS Fu Lai, SBSS’s DP2 multi-purpose vessel, completed a range of diving support work on Sakhalin-2, Russia’s first offshore gas project developed by Shell. SBSS’s offshore team proved their capability by overcoming the world’s harshest conditions in Russia’s far east.

Sakhalin-2 Diving Support Project

2007

SBSS led the Qingdao landing and cable installation on the Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) submarine cable system, the second telecom system directly linking China and the US. In same year, SBSS reached out an agreement with Saipem Indonesia to carry out installation and burial work on 44km 15kV inter-platform cable in the BP Tangguh LNG Gas Field.

SBSS Attended Groundbreaking Ceremony of TPE Qingdao Landing

2008

SBSS carried out submarine cable installation work on another massive submarine cable system, Asia-America Gateway (AAG), the first cable linking South East Asia directly with the USA.

AAG Landing in Philippine

2009

Industrial Assets Management Center of China took over as the new Chinese shareholder of SBSS. The company completed its first telecom project in the Indian Ocean by installing over 4,000km of submarine cable on the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) system.

IMEWE Final Release

2010

SBSS continued to build up its fleet and subsea equipment capabilities through the acquisition of the cable maintenance vessel CS Fu An (ex-Wave Mercury) and post-lay burial ROV Sealion III. The company also delivered its first high-voltage 154kV power cable installation project utilizing an innovative twin-lay solution on the Hwawon-Anjwa Interconnector project in South Korea.

Power Cable Twin-lay in Hwawon-Anjwa Interconnector in South Korea

2011

SBSS delivered another high-profile inter-platform cable installation project in the Cili Padi Gas Field operated by Shell Malaysia. Once again, thecompany proves its capability in O&G sector by meeting the strict QHSE standards and precisely laying accuracy required.

Shell Cili Padi Inter-platform Cable Installation

2012

China Communications Services Corporation Ltd took over as the new Chinese shareholder of SBSS. The company reached another 5-year contract extension as the service provider for Yokohama Zone and expanded its business in ROV sector through the Joint Venture Shanghai Jian Long ROV Technology Co., Ltd with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Bruce Neilson-Watts, a former Managing Director of SBSS, at the Opening Ceremony of Shanghai Jian Long ROV Technology Co., Ltd

2013

SBSS stepped into the Middle East O&G market through the delivery of Qatar Barzan inter-platform cable installation and trenching project. The company continuously set new records in the telecom sector and installed over 1,800km on the South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC).

SJC Submarine Cable Installation

2014

SBSS powers up a number of O&G platforms in South China Sea including Enping, Huangyan, Panyu and Wenchang fields. The company also lands its first South American contract for Chacopata-Margarita Submarine Cable Interconnector in Venezuela.

Inter-platform cable installation in Enping Field

2015

SBSS proudly celebrated its 20^th Anniversary. Since establishment, the company had installed over 41,000km of submarine cable and played a key role in more than 90 projects.

Bold Maverick Bird View

2016

SBSS’s fleet actively worked on multiple key telecom submarine cable systems including SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5), Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand (MCT) and SEA-US. The company also delivered the 500kV Hainan Grid Submarine Cable Route Inspection for China Southern Power Grid.

Sunset at MCT

2017

SBSS established its first track record in the Chinese offshore wind sector by installing and burying one 23km 220kV export cable on the Jiangsu Binhai windfarm. This again proves SBSS’s exemplary operational experience from shallow water to deepsea and its clean energy commitment. The company also placed the order with SMD for the state-of-art trenching plough “HP-1500”.

HP-1500 Plough

2018

SBSS, in consortium with cable manufacturer ZTT, successfully delivered a project awarded by Bangladesh Power Development Board to install two 15km 33kV power cables between Barabkunda and Sandwip islands. It is the first long distance submarine composite power cable project in Bangladesh and demonstrated SBSS’s commitment in supporting the “Belt and Road” initiative.

SBSS supporting "One Belt, One Road" Initiative

2019

SBSS delivered another project for Saipem Indonesia which included the installation of 3 composite cables for Tangguh LNG Expansion, operated by BP. This is the second project awarded to SBSS by Saipem following 44km cable installation and burial for BP Tangguh LNG Gas Field in 2007. In October, SBSS co-exhibited with China Telecom Global at 2019 China Marine Economy Expo.

BP Tangguh Expansion

2020

SBSS proudly celebrates its 25^th Anniversary in business. Despite the difficulties and challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020, SBSS has safely conducted more than 650 crew movements without interruption to our worldwide offshore operations; 6,207km of telecom system cable has been installed in 2020 by SBSS with one operation seeing cable laid to a maximum recorded water depth of 9,640m; we have also broken the previous SBSS company record for cable repairs by delivering 23 telecom repairs within a 26-week period.

The company also restructured its fleet in 2020 through the upgrade of CS Fu Hai, retirement of CS Fu An and the long-term charter of Fu Yong 6.

SBSS 2020 Factsheet

2021

2021 has been a remarkable year for SBSS’s offshore wind business. Fu Yong 6, our power cable installation and maintenance barge, has been shuttling along the coastline of China, conducting numerous export and inter-array cable installation works that have included Guoneng Dafeng H5, Changle A&C, Zhanjiang Xinliao and SPIC Rudong H7.

In the telecom space, SBSS successfully delivered SCIP Phase 1, CDSCN and H2HE submarine cable installation projects. Bold Maverick expanding her telecom installation footprint to the Mediterranean Sea for PEACE Med project. We completed 18 cable repairs as part of our ongoing cable maintenance commitment.

In 2021, SBSS acquired and converted new industry tonnage. Fu Tai will enter service in 2022, principally engaged in submarine cable maintenance works.

PEACE Med

2022

Despite the operational complexities and obstacles presented by COVID-19, in 2022 SBSS managed to expand the fleet through the introduction of Fu Tai; expand the installation footprint to West Africa by delivering UNSC project. In the same year, SBSS supported the Chinese coastguard by the rescue at sea of three distressed seafarers.

Fu Tai

2023

SBSS have installed some 7,796km of submarine cable in the telecom space; CS Fu Hai was focused on connectivity in the Intra-Asia region and installed over 80% of the submarine cable for the Asia Direct Cable (ADC) System; Bold Maverick continued to expand SBSS’s global presence by entering Brazilian waters, supporting our customer in the digitalization of South American Oil & Gas fields; Fu Tai successfully completed 12 cable repairs and played a key role in guarding network stability during important events including the 19th Asia Games and the 2023 China International Import Expo (CIIE); Fu Yong 6 participated in the cable installation work for the Qingzhou 4 offshore windfarm, one of the deepest offshore projects in the Chinese renewable sector.

In 2023, SBSStook delivery of a brand new QT1000 trenching ROV, which further strengthens the company’s cable burial capability.

Asia Direct Cable (ADC)