Orange Marine


Orange Marine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orange S.A. It is a major actor in the laying of new submarine communications cables and the maintenance of existing cables across the world's oceans.
The company is active in all areas of these activities, including the study and the shore ends. Orange Marine took control of Elettra on 1 October 2010, and now operates six cable ships, which is 15% of the world fleet. The CEO of Orange Marine and Elettra is Didier Dillard.

Installation and maintenance activities

Orange Marine lays new submarine cables and repairs broken links without any interruption of traffic. Orange Marine and Elettra fleets perform an average of 40 operations a year.
Orange Marine has laid more than of submarine cable in all oceans, of which were buried with its ploughs. From 2001 through 2011, cable ships carried out nearly 300 repairs, some of which were at a depth of.
Orange Marine has completed the laying and maintenance of cables in West Africa in Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as in East Africa, Reunion Island, Madagascar and Mauritius, Asia and Indonesia. The company also laid a new cable in the Caribbean sea, linking U.S. Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

Cable ships fleet

The fleet covers all of the world's oceans, divided into four regions of operation: ACMA, MECMA with Elettra, Southern Hemisphere and the Indian Ocean.
Submarine cables laid in the same area are covered by a maintenance agreement.
Orange Marine and Elettra own a fleet of six cable ships and a complete range of submarine engines, shipping from its marine bases or foreign harbours:
  • C/S Léon Thévenin, based in Brest at the AMB, repairs the cables in the Atlantic zone and in Northern Europe.
  • C/S René Descartes is dedicated to the installation of submarine cables on a worldwide range.
  • C/S Teliri operates laying operations, mainly around the Mediterranean Basin.
  • C/S Antonio Meucci conducts submarine systems inspections, ROV operations and maintenance of telecommunications cables.
  • C/S Pierre de Fermat, operating since 2014, installs and maintains submarine cables in the Atlantic and Northern Europe zone.
  • C/S Sophie Germain, the newest vessel launched in September 2023, based at La Seyne-sur-Mer, operates on maintenance agreements.
Elettra operates two of the cable ships, the Certamen and the Teliri, under the Italian flag, along with a survey vessel, the Urbano Monti, and owns a cable depot in Catania.
In order to protect, watch and repair intercontinental damaged links, Orange Marine, through its subsidiary SIMEC, designs, manufactures and operates submarine vehicles used to carry out assignments:
  • The Hector ROV, which is remotely controlled from the ship via its umbilical cable, can lift the cable, hold it and cut it using articulated arms.
  • Elodie, the plough, is used to bury the cable at significant depths.