South Korea’s Taihan Cable & Solution (TC&S) announced that on July 24, they held a launching ceremony for the 6,200-ton submarine cable laying vessel “Palos” at the Godeok Pier in the Asan National Industrial Complex, Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do, where their submarine cable factory is located.

Per a report in KoreaITtimes.com, the Palos is the only offshore wind power CLV (Cable Laying Vessel) in the country and can load up to 4,400 tons of submarine cable at once. Attendees at the event included representatives from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Wind Energy Industry Association, as well as various power companies, clients, and partner companies also attended.

Palos is a CLV designed and built specifically for submarine cable laying from the start, offering superior performance compared to CLBs (Cable Laying Barges) that are repurposed cargo barges. Unlike general vessels, Palos has a flat bottom, allowing it to be deployed to various sites regardless of water depth. It is equipped with advanced features such as the Dynamic Positioning System (DP2), which ensures precise vessel positioning. It can travel at a speed of up to 9 knots, enabling it to manage submarine cable laying much more accurately and stably compared to CLBs, which are towed by tugboats and cannot respond as effectively to weather changes and tides.

“Today’s launching ceremony marks South Korea’s rise to one of the few countries globally equipped with a CLV, with only about 30 such vessels existing worldwide,” said CT&S Vice Chairman Song Jong-min. “Palos will ... serve as a critical strategic asset that protects Korea’s offshore wind power market from overseas influences.”

In other news, TC&S said the company has won a new U.S. power grid EHV cable order worth $137 million. The company will supply the cables to an unnamed customer for an underground project in the eastern part of the U.S.

TC&S noted that its net profit for 2023 (71.87 billion won) was triple that of the prior year (21.83 billion won), and that the company’s order backlog is now 1.94 trillion won as of the end of the first quarter.

LS Eco Energy, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable and System, has obtained safety certification for underground residential distribution (URD) power cables from UL, a prominent U.S. safety certification organization.

A press release said that, with the UL certification, the comany plans to expand its export product range for the U.S., adding to its existing line of LAN (UTP) cables. “We expect this certification to play a critical role in expanding our presence in the U.S. market and enhancing our competitiveness in the global power cable market,” said LS Eco Energy CEO Lee Sung-ho.

The company, in collaboration with LS Cable America, intends to ramp up marketing efforts targeting power plant construction companies and power authorities to accelerate its market penetration. The URD power cables are primarily used in various distribution networks connecting solar power plants and data centers (IDCs), both of which have seen strong demand. Also boosting demand is recently imposed high  U.S. tariffs on Chinese aluminum that has led to a surge in sales of aluminum conductor URD cables from non-Chinese sources.

Due to the U.S.’s policy of excluding Chinese products, the LAN cables produced at LS Eco Energy’s Ho Chi Minh manufacturing subsidiary, LSCV, saw over a 30% increase in exports to the U.S. in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

Under the global umbrella brand of “Metalflow Alliance,” Germany’s Messe Düsseldorf  will represent seven of its trade shows as part of two co-located Saudi Arabia trade events in May 2025.

A press release said that the Messe will be at two Saudi trade fairs—Metal & Steel Saudi Arabia and Saudi Projects—May 5-7, 2025, the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center. There, the event organizer will present “news and trends” from the following trade fairs: wire, Tube, VALVE WORLD EXPO and GIFA (foundry), METEC (metallurgy), THERMPROCESS (thermo processing)  and NEWCAST (castings). 

Described as the leading trade fairs of the Saudi construction industry, Saudi Projects premiered in Riyadh in 2024 while the Metal & Steel trade fair already has a successful track record. Both trade fairs are organized by AGEX, the Arabian German International Exhibitions, in Riyadh. 

 The Metalflow Alliance will complement the Saudi trade fair duo. The joint trade fair date creates valuable synergies for exhibitors and visitors at all three events.

 Metal & Steel and Saudi Projects are among the most important regional events and supply machines, systems, products and services for the rapidly growing demand in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government is pursuing ambitious infrastructure goals, which are formulated and driven by Vision 2030. Significant investments are being made to transform the economy of Saudi Arabia, which has been described as booming.

 Technologies and products from Metalflow Alliance exhibitors could soon become part of the economic diversification in Saudi Arabia. “The transformation of Saudi Arabia’s economy offers our metal trade fair exhibitors very promising opportunities to enter the Saudi market and, hence, plenty of potential for the coming years,” said Daniel Ryfisch, director of the wire, Tube & Flow Technologies portfolio at Messe Düsseldorf.

South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has accused Taihan Electric Wire (TEW) of technology theft related to the design and layout of its new submarine cable manufacturing equipment.

Per multiple media reports, LS C&S claimed that TEW illicitly obtained the design and layout of LS Cable & System’s specialized equipment used in the production of submarine cables. Those are important as making and moving cables that can span tens of km and weigh thousands of tons reflect the company’s expertise that is a key part of its intellectual property.

The disagreement reached a new level on July 11, when police considered TEW as a suspect for violating the “Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act” and conducted a raid on its headquarters. A statement by LS C&S stated that the “theft of technology by Taihan Electric Wire is a clear criminal act,” and declared that if the allegations are proven true, the company will pursue all legal actions.

At issue was whether information about the floor plan that LS C&S had provided an architectural firm that later worked for TEW was improperly passed along. TEW recently held the official opening of a new submarine cable plant in the Godae district of the Asan National Industrial Complex in Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and now plans to build a second such plant there that will be completed in 2026, and operational in 2027.

TEW issued a statement denying the allegations. “(Our) submarine cable factory layout is not a core technology, and there is absolutely no reason to secure a competitor’s layout and drawings for the purpose of technology theft.” It countered that LS S&C has a monopoly in South Korea, and that the country needs to have more competition to protect its market from foreign companies.