News Details

Home / News /

Company news about What is Marine Armoured Cables?Applicable Operating Mode?Types?Advantages?

What is Marine Armoured Cables?Applicable Operating Mode?Types?Advantages?

2026-03-21

Comprehensive Guide to Marine Armoured Cables

(Compliant with IEC 60092, SOLAS Convention and Mainstream Classification Society Rules)

1. What is Marine Armoured Cable?

Marine armoured cable is a speciality cable purpose-designed for ship and offshore engineering environments, in full compliance with international maritime and classification society regulations. Its core structure features an additional metallic armouring protective layer over the conductor, insulation, and inner sheath, with an outer marine-grade weather-resistant sheath. It is a core supporting product for electrical systems of ships and offshore platforms/facilities.

Its core structure from inside to outside: Tinned copper conductor (mandatory for marine applications to resist seawater corrosion) → Marine-grade insulation layer (XLPE/EPR, etc.) → Extruded inner sheath (insulation protection) → Metallic armouring layer (core protective structure) → Marine outer sheath (oil-resistant, salt-spray resistant, flame-retardant, low smoke zero halogen, etc.).

The core difference from land-use armoured cables: Marine armoured cables must meet marine-specific requirements including salt spray resistance, oil resistance, mould resistance, flame retardancy, low smoke zero halogen (mandatory for passenger ships), and vibration resistance. They can only be installed onboard with valid Type Approval (TA) from mainstream classification societies such as CCS, DNV, LR, and ABS.

2. Core Applicable Scenarios of Marine Armoured Cables

Marine armoured cables are designed for the complex and extreme scenarios of ships and offshore engineering, with core applicable working conditions as follows:

Areas with High Risk of Mechanical Damage: Open weather main deck, fore and aft decks, engine room bottom, cargo holds, both sides of passageways. They resist crushing by equipment, impact from cargo, and friction caused by ship rolling, avoiding insulation damage during installation and operation.
Direct Burial / Concealed Wiring Scenarios: Direct burial in deck covering, wiring through hull structure conduits and bulkhead penetrations, direct burial in concrete structures of offshore platforms. They can withstand burial pressure without additional protective conduits.
Extreme Marine Corrosive Environments: Ship's side, splash zone, tidal zone, legs of offshore platforms, underwater auxiliary facilities, and areas with long-term high salt spray, high humidity, and mould erosion. The armouring layer, combined with the anti-corrosion sheath, isolates moisture and improves weather resistance.
High Vibration / High Impact Working Conditions: Areas near main engines, auxiliary engines, steering gears, windlasses and other power equipment on board, drilling modules and shale shaker areas of drilling platforms. They resist continuous rolling and impact during navigation, enhance tensile and fatigue resistance, and prevent core wire breakage.
Scenarios with High Electromagnetic Shielding Requirements: Signal circuits for ship navigation, communication, automatic control, and instrumentation. Copper/copper tape armouring forms a complete shielding body, resists strong electromagnetic interference from the engine room, ensures stable signal transmission, and meets the reliability requirements of the SOLAS Convention for navigation systems.
Explosion-Proof Hazardous Areas: Cargo oil tanks/pump rooms of oil tankers and chemical tankers, hazardous material storage tanks, oil and gas treatment areas of offshore platforms. The armouring layer, combined with the flameproof structure, prevents sparks from cable faults from igniting flammable and explosive media, complying with IEC 60079 explosion-proof standards.
Emergency Safety Systems: Ship emergency lighting, emergency fire fighting, emergency power supply, and escape route wiring. They can delay insulation burnout in accidents such as fire and collision, maintain emergency power supply for a longer time, and meet the mandatory safety requirements of the SOLAS Convention.

3. Core Advantages Over Non-Armoured Marine Cables

表格

Comparison Dimension	Marine Armoured Cable	Ordinary Non-Armoured Marine Cable
Mechanical Protection Performance	Core advantage. Metallic armouring resists crushing, impact, tension, and bending, eliminating insulation damage and core breakage during installation and operation	Only protected by the sheath, extremely vulnerable to mechanical damage under complex marine working conditions, with high failure rate
Environmental Tolerance	Armouring layer isolates moisture, salt spray and mould, resists gnawing by rodents/marine organisms, with extremely high weather resistance in marine environments	Sheath is prone to aging and biological erosion in long-term high humidity and high salt environments, with high risk of insulation failure
Electromagnetic Shielding Performance	Metallic armouring forms a complete shielding body, effectively resists strong electromagnetic interference from the engine room, and ensures control/signal transmission accuracy	No dedicated shielding layer, highly susceptible to interference, leading to misoperation of the control system and navigation signal distortion
Installation Flexibility	Supports direct burial without cable trays, open-air installation, and long-distance suspended installation, greatly reducing the difficulty and cost of installation in the narrow space of ships	Must be installed relying on cable trays and protective conduits, with large space constraints and high installation cost
Safety and Flame Retardant Performance	Armouring layer blocks flame spread, improves flame retardant/fire resistance performance, and can be used as an auxiliary earthing conductor to reduce the risk of earthing faults	No additional protection, insulation burns out quickly in fire, no redundant earthing protection
Whole Life Cycle Cost	Service life is 30%~50% longer than non-armoured cables of the same specification, greatly reducing maintenance, replacement costs and off-hire losses	High replacement frequency, extremely high cost of offshore maintenance/replacement, whole life cycle cost is much higher than armoured cables

4. Main Classification of Marine Armoured Cables

The industry takes armouring structure as the core classification basis, supplemented by classification by application, material, and voltage level, fully in line with the IEC 60092 electrical installations in ships standard.

4.1 Classification by Core Armouring Structure (Most Mainstream Classification)

表格

+86 15258895859

Quick link

Home About Us Products Cases News download video CONTACT US

Quick Contact

Address

No.196 Of LongPu Road,Fuyang district, Hangzhou City, ZheJiang Province 311400,China

Tel

86-15258895859

E-mail

tony@mykeyingroup.com

+86 15258895859

Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter for discounts and more.

Marine Ventilator

Marine Ventilation Fan

Marine Anodes

Marine Cable

Marine Power Cable

Marine Control Cable

Marine Communication Cable

Marine Paint

Marine Propellers

Marine Chains

Anchor Chain

Mooring Chain

Chafe Chain

Marine Outfitting

Marine Doors

Marine Windows

Marine Ladder

Marine Bollard

Steel Manhole Cover

Hatch Cover

Fairlead Roller

Boat Chain Stopper

Marine Pressure Washer

Pneumatic Rubber Fender

Marine Safety