French research vessel Abeille Marengo arrived in the port of Heraklion on Tuesday to conduct surveys for the Crete to Cyprus undersea electricity interconnection cable.
The vessel sailed on Friday, October 23, from Naples, Italy, heading for Crete. The Greek island is expected to serve as its operational base before scheduled survey activities begin across the Eastern Mediterranean.
Heraklion is the administrative capital and principal commercial port of Crete. The ship, which sails under the French flag, will remain moored in port while awaiting the issuance of a NAVTEX maritime notice required to authorize the survey operations.
Navigational warnings and survey area
According to reports, the NAVTEX notice is expected during the first ten days of November once standard administrative procedures conclude. The formal notice will establish the exact route and coordinates where the research vessel will operate.
The same reports indicated that the surveys are set to resume precisely where earlier work was halted, at the six nautical mile territorial water boundary off the Greek island of Kasos.
Kasos is an island in the Dodecanese archipelago located in the southern Aegean Sea between eastern Crete and Karpathos. Under international maritime practice, a NAVTEX alert, short for navigational telex, is an automated service used by coastal stations to broadcast navigational warnings, meteorological forecasts, and urgent maritime notices to ships at sea.
Consortium preparations and diplomatic contacts
Preparations to restart the cable project were completed before the end of September by contractor Nexans and the corporate consortium managing the Great Sea Interconnector. French investment firm Meridiam holds the majority stake in the consortium, while Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator, known as ADMIE, serves as the project manager.
Project partners were waiting for clearance following behind the scenes contacts between French officials and Turkey. Those diplomatic discussions were conducted to allow the submission of the vessel's licensing application and the formal issuance of the NAVTEX notice.
The Great Sea Interconnector is designed to end the energy isolation of Cyprus by linking its electricity grid to the European mainland through Crete. French cable specialist Nexans was awarded the contract to manufacture and install the high voltage direct current subsea cables across the Mediterranean seabed.
