Redazione RHC : 28 September 2025 09:06
At Haihui Port in Xiaoting, along the Yangtze River, a large red steel structure provided the backdrop for the delivery of a massive order of submarine cables from Yichang Qifan. Using a specialized system, the cables were transported from the workshop to the top of the structure and then neatly wrapped in a storage cage, in an operation worth hundreds of millions of yuan.
According to Yu Jun, director of production, the company has already exceeded 500 million yuan in submarine cable shipments this year, with orders scheduled until the end of the year. Customers include strategic projects on the islands of Xiangyun and Xugong, for which production is nearing completion and shipment.
The initial order concerns 220 kV and 66 kV cables for the Shanhaiguan Offshore Wind Power Phases I and II offshore wind project. The shipment includes 15 cables in eight specifications, totaling 60.1 kilometers and 4,524 tons, with a total value of 116 million yuan. Deliveries, which began on September 16, will be completed by September 30 via combined river-sea transport to Qinhuangdao.
Yu Jun emphasized that this is the largest, heaviest, and longest delivery ever made by the company. Production began in April and concluded in mid-August, with demanding technical requirements. The complexity of the cables, which must be installed seamlessly, makes production particularly delicate: a defect even a few kilometers from completion could lead to the entire core being scrapped. Furthermore, repairs at sea are very expensive.
The technological challenge is even greater for ultra-high voltage submarine fiber-optic cables, which require insulation thicknesses of 26 mm. Only a few manufacturers are capable of producing 220 kV cables, considered the most advanced stage of industry production due to the high standards and risks involved.
Yichang Qifan’s production hub is located in a 180-meter building housing the tower cross-linking line, used for the production of high- and extra-high-voltage insulated cores. With three production lines, the company is the only manufacturer in Hubei capable of supplying long-length submarine cables, as well as land cables up to 500 kV. A 300-meter transport platform connects the plant directly to the river docks.
Since 2020, the year of its establishment in Xiaoting, the company has progressively strengthened research and development in the submarine cable sector, producing a single 35-kV 220-kV cable. By 2023, it had delivered approximately 200 kilometers of cables and entered into agreements with major national energy groups. According to Jiang Jingwen, the goal is to transform the Xiling base into a national high-end cable production hub and aim to reach a turnover of 10 billion yuan in the coming years, thanks to investment and technological innovation.
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