After 51 years, the island of Hiddensee will finally get a new cable

By Bild Zeitung, supplement for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

4 July 2009

Hiddensee: Where is that? The tiny island in the Baltic Sea will get a new electrical cable which will be laid from Rügen. And how do you lay a cable to an island? A cable transporter with a giant reel will drive through the Schaprode Bodden and lower the cable onto the ocean floor. Once the cable lies on the ground, a cable trencher will dig a channel and bury the cable 3 meters deep into the ground. By the way, the cable trencher is not a ship! It is a vehicle that moves like a caterpillar that can drive through water up to 8 meter deep. Why the concerted effort? The old electrical cable leading to Hiddensee, which was laid in 1958, had simply worn out and has recently caused multiple power failures on the island.