Cable Installation Made Easy With Unique Group’s Sustainable Buoyancy Solutions

With more than 25 years’ experience in delivering industry- leading inflatable buoyancy solutions to support offshore engineering projects, Unique Group’s buoyancy solutions encompass all the necessary accessories that are absent from traditional methods, delivering a more flexible, efficient, and sustainable solution.

Unique Group SeaSerpent

As global innovators in subsea technologies and engineering, Unique Group’s Seaflex suite of products, Seaflex SeaSerpent™, Seaflex Dual Boom™ Cable Floats, Inflatable Buoyancy Units (IBUs) and Mono Buoyancy Units (MBUs), can be applied across a range of installation projects to support the renewable, oil and gas, and subsea sectors. Designed and manufactured in the UK, in compliance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 to ensure safety across the project’s operations, Unique Group’s solutions are optimised to replace the use of outdated floats and mitigate single-use methods, supporting the industry’s advancements towards sustainable operations.

SeaSerpent™ for Cable Lay

Leading the way in shallow water cable installations, the SeaSerpent™ provides a safe, flexible, and efficient buoyancy system to support cable shore landing projects. The system's operational flexibility allows the installer to launch and control the speed of the sinking sequence remotely from the surface (even allowing it to sink to the seabed and recover from the bottom if necessary), removing the need for subsea intervention. Unlike traditional solid floats, the user-controlled aspect of the system also allows installers to easily lift and reposition the cable, which has previously been impossible with traditional methods. Supplied in a flat-pack form, the SeaSerpent™ tube can be inflated and attached to the cable at the installer’s convenience the system significantly saves on deck space and manpower at the launch point ultimately reducing transport, storage, handling and replacement costs.

Unique Group Mono Buoyancy Units

Mono Buoyancy Units for Pipe Lay

Commonly used for pipeline shore landing operations, Unique Group’s Mono Buoyancy Units (MBUs) are transforming the pipelaying market. The system's operational advantages (such as easy-to-deploy, durability, and user-controlled buoyancy variation) have made their Seaflex MBUs one of the top choices to support HDPE pipeline projects across the world. Designed for high load angles, the MBUs are a practical alternative to solid buoyancy systems and are tested and proven to have a safety factor exceeding 5 times the working load limit. Connected to the load by a single point, the system requires significantly less rigging time compared to the general multi-attachment alternatives.

Highlighting Seaflex MBU’s economical and technical advantages, a recent project in Kuwait involving the recovery of a tunnel boring machine from the seabed for a leading civil engineering JV company saw Unique Group specially manufacture a series of 10t MBUs to assist with the recovery.

As an independently owned company with a global reach, Unique Group leads the way in providing subsea technologies and engineering expertise across the subsea, maritime, energy, renewable and defense market sectors.