News

There has been speculation and opinion shared on social media and from news outlets as to the causes of these two subsea cable faults. Many commentators have pointed towards deliberate action. However, at this stage there is no evidence to make any conclusive statement.

Particularly since the Nord Stream Pipeline was damaged in 2022, the security of critical undersea infrastructure has been a central topic of discussion, and action, for both industry and government.

For these and future incidents it is prudent to consider the following:

• The primary causes of cable damage in Northern European waters are commercial fishing or ship anchors, with a smaller proportion of faults caused by natural hazards (seafloor currents, storms, submarine landslides, sediment flows etc).
• Subsea cables are protected as much as possible through burial beneath the seabed, armouring, and careful route design to avoid predicted hazards, but it is not always possible to avoid damage and cable repairs are not uncommon.
• The cause of a fault can rarely be attributed instantly as a cable repair ship will take several days to attend the location of the damage. Physical inspection of the cable & the seabed is typically required to give a good indication of the cause.
• When a cable experiences a fault, engineers will perform tests on the cable that will give them a distance along the cable to the fault, and with their records they will be able to calculate geographical fault position.
• Investigations can be undertaken using tools such as vessel tracking AIS (Automatic Identification System), to see if there were any vessels at the fault location at the time it was damaged. This does not necessarily indicate whether the cause was accidental or intentional.
• Subsea cable damage is not rare. On average, a subsea cable is damaged somewhere in the world every three days, with estimates of around 150-200 cable faults occurring each year.
• Damaging just one, or even two, cables will rarely cause significant disruption of service and customers in the area affected are unlikely to notice any impact. Cable operators build diversity & redundancy in their networks specifically to mitigate for these sorts of occurrences.

Speculation on the cause of fault at a very early stage can lead to misinformation being shared. Most cable faults are not reported in the media, however, when they are reported before the facts are available, such speculation often leads to unhelpful and premature conclusions being drawn about the cause of cable damage.

*The image is an example of cable damage and isn’t related to these specific incidents. Please don’t use without permission

Summary of Sectors Global and national internet/communications connectivity and subsea energy transmission are reliant on subsea cables. Recent events have heightened awareness of the resilience and security of these vital underwater links, and demand for space on the seabed creates challenges for cable laying and repair.

• Telecommunications/data cables enable global business and communications with >99% of intercontinental global communications travelling by subsea cable. >$10 Trillion financial transactions per day.
• Subsea power transmission cables are critical to the reliable and resilient operation of the UK power transmission grid and enable the movement of renewable energy both within the UK and between countries
• Subsea cables bring energy from offshore wind/renewable sources – without cables, energy from offshore renewables could not come ashore.

Internet, Data & the Global Economy

• The UK economy fundamentally relies upon subsea telecommunications/data cables facilitating global connectivity. Subsea cables carry more than 99% of global intercontinental communications/data.

Offshore Wind

• Without subsea power cables there is no offshore wind. Estimations show the UK could install around 140GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050 to reach net zero.

Subsea Power Transmission & Distribution

• Subsea power cables, both transmission and distribution are vital components in the pathway to 2030 and everyday life. These critical assets require support to enable their construction and operation, along with protection from damage. They are critical for UK energy security.

Island communities

• Domestic power & telecoms cables provide essential services (energy, emergency services, healthcare, business, social etc.) and lifeline connectivity for UK island communities.

Four Achievable Supportive Actions:

1. Engage with the industry – join industry briefing on the primary issues related to subsea cable security and resilience.
2. Accelerate decarbonisation and economic growth. Review the existing consenting processes for marine industries – to reduce time delays, decrease cost, and streamline resource demands in decision making.
3. Take action to address and understand ‘Spatial Squeeze’ and the increasing demand for space on the seabed. Cables need access to the UK – and this needs effective working with international partners.
4. Support cross-government working on subsea infrastructure policy to coordinate across all subsea cable sector policy areas – energy and telecommunication – aligned with policies impacting other marine industries.

Figure 1 Subsea cables in UK and surrounding waters. Source: KIS-ORCA

ESCA continues to recommend safe and responsible practices for vessels working in the vicinity of subsea cables, and the advice is in line with maritime safety guidance. This update also continues to promote the work of KIS-ORCA and support the primary goals of ESCA in promoting cable awareness and maritime safety.

The IET produce EngShorts which are "an ongoing series of 60-second videos, released every week, that ask challenging questions on big engineering topics to boost our public engagement and thought leadership.”

The video has been shared across social media via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and is also available on the IET YouTube channel here:

Access to the internet worldwide is increasing, with demand for internet capacity growing in excess of 40% per year, together with the number of devices that people own that have internet access, such as smart phones and laptops. Facebook, Netflix, Google, iTunes and email are part of everyday life and all rely upon subsea cables.

Such demand on subsea cable capacity has now increased even further, as people across the world have demonstrated that social distancing and isolation can be successfully undertaken together. As well as home working and business operations there are also online text and video chats, virtual knitting circles, yoga classes, gym classes, to name a few as people work to stay connected to one another. According to Techcrunch, videoconferencing apps saw just over 62 million downloads between 14-21st March alone.

From university lectures and examinations, to cookery classes, businesses have gone online to deliver their services as best they can. Social media has also helped to facilitate local support networks to assist those who are vulnerable, ‘shielding’, or self-isolating. All of this relies on smooth and efficient functioning of physical undersea, underground or overhead cable networks.

UK Government is actively working with the submarine cable industry to ensure continued operation. This includes future planning in case greater restrictions on movement are enforced in this ever-changing situation. Government departments are liaising closely to assist companies and protect the economy.

Steve Dawe, speaking as Chairman of the European Subsea Cables Association commented, “In these unprecedented times, we are reaping the benefits of good relationships ESCA has fostered within subsea communities and Government, as we manage the effects of this event. There has been rapid adoption of social distancing of terminal staff who manage and maintain subsea cables, to address the surge in capacity demand while ensuring continued operation of such critical infrastructure”

Keeping this vital infrastructure functioning is a significant task, and personnel undertaking essential maintenance operations have been recognised as key workers. Their vital work includes replacing hardware in remote coastal locations, and foreign crew arriving through an airport must be healthy and ready to join cable ships to attend to fibre optic repairs on the open sea, as may be required.

The workforce is based in worldwide locations and face many logistical challenges. Cable ships require international crews to travel from around the world to join ships based in strategic locations to conduct essential and fast repairs in order to keep global communications functioning. Where cables come ashore, landing stations must be accessible to replace and repair vital terminal equipment.

Companies have been pro-active in responding to the crisis. Cable ship operators have vessels in port, ready to sail to perform emergency repair work and these ships were quarantined even before government restrictions were imposed. Non-essential personnel were not permitted access. Some companies are requiring crew and personnel to spend 14 days hotel isolation in a nearby port before being allowed onboard. Port calls and crew changes are also being kept to an absolute minimum and time at sea for those onboard has been extended where possible and safe to do so. This can mean a longer time at sea for many of the cable ship crews so that installations and repairs can be completed without port calls and mariners spending time away from their families.

A spokesperson for a cable ship operator Global Marine Group said “The safety of our people is of upmost importance and we are following UK and local Government guidelines as well as public health advice as appropriate, and closely monitoring ongoing updates and changes and of course reacting accordingly. As connectivity right across the globe becomes ever more critical, we will strive to ensure a continuation of service for customers, to maintain the essential infrastructure that our company and the markets we operate in provide to the global community”.

Whilst nobody would claim that video conference or telecalls are a perfect solution to business operations – this is currently the way that we are forced to work during this time of crisis. However, there will be lessons to be learned in how we can all work more effectively in the future – and benefits in terms of reducing impact on climate change are being discussed. Some businesses that have never considered home working may now see advantages, or there may be all manner of creative solutions to the way we work and interact that the world has now been cornered into contemplating. After this global pandemic is over, life as we knew it will slowly return to normal – however there will undoubtedly be some fundamental changes to the way we live and work – as well as a greater appreciation for our ever growing dependence on communications and connectivity.

This article can also be downloaded Here

Aiming to provide an introduction to the industry for new entrants, graduates etc., the event was structured to follow the phases of a subsea project, aiming to address the lifecycle of a submarine facility, with a number of experts from a cross section of the subsea cables industry kindly providing excellent presentations to the audience.

Further events are planned!

Places are selling fast for the EMEA's leading annual submarine communications gathering, so be sure to book your tickets today.

ESCA is pleased to announce that we are an Association Partner for this year's event.

Chairman of ESCA, Steve Dawe, will be joining speakers from across industry and our Executive Committee will also have a strong presence.

Courtesy of ESCA, we have an exclusive 20% off discount code for you to use. Simply enter code ESCA20 at the online registration page to receive the offer.

Click here to book today.

Don't miss out on your opportunity to join us in London.

The Cables event will take place on 29th/30th October, with the Floating Offshore Wind event on 31st October. Both are being held at P&J Live in Aberdeen.

Closing date for initial responses is 28th June 2019, with completed proposals to be received by 1700 hours GMT on 30th August 2019.

Places are selling fast for the EMEA's leading annual submarine communications gathering, so be sure to book your tickets today.

ESCA is pleased to announce that we are an Association Partner for this year's event.

Chairman of ESCA, Steve Dawe, will be joining speakers from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Sudatel Telecom Group and the Port of Marseille Fos Authority on a panel on 'Addressing the regulatory challenges of a developing industry' on 13th February.

The ESCA Vice-Chairman, Peter Jamieson will also be moderating a roundtable on 'What does the future look like for maintenance agreements?' on 12th February.

Courtesy of ESCA, we have an exclusive 20% off discount code for you to use. Simply enter code AEYC at the online registration page to receive the offer.

Book here today: http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/submarine-networks-world-europe/?utm_source=ESCA&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=ESCA-website&utm_term=third-party&utm_content=website

Don't miss out on your opportunity to join us in London.

1. Using digital forensics to figure out who damaged your cable - Dr. Neil Baines (Avenca Limited)

2. Evolving Subsea Power Cable Trenching and De-Trenching Technologies and Techniques -Stephen Wilson (Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd - SMD)

3. Security measures for cables that can be applied to fibre optic cables in the marine environment - Ian Walker (SDH Project Services Ltd)

4. Seabed Mobility and Improvements to the Carbon Trust Cable Burial Risk Assessment Methodology - Dr. Kevin Black (Partrac Ltd)

5. HV Cable Performance, thermal considerations, 2k thermal issues being applied in certain countries - Prof. Justin Dix (University of Southampton)

6. The role of the EU in Subsea - Thomas Küpper (European Commission)

Speaker Biographies can be found Here

In addition, there will be industry and organisational updates from the ESCA Chair, the Sub-Group Chairs, Liaison Officer, Fishing Advisor and a panel discussion with the Executive Committee. Attendance is FREE for ESCA Members. Prospective ESCA members may be invited to attend as guests; please contact the ESCA secretary for details: secretary@escaeu.org

Mr Dawe succeeds Peter Jamieson of Liberty Global, who is standing down after serving in this role for six years.

Based in London, United Kingdom, Stephen is Engineering & Business Development Manager at Vodafone Group Services Ltd with 35 years of experience in the submarine systems industry and an extensive background in engineering, system development, management and business development. Additionally, Stephen is a SubOptic Executive Committee Member and SubOptic 2019 Papers Committee Co-chair.

Prior to leading business development for Vodafone Submarine Systems Engineering, Stephen was Director of Submarine Systems Engineering at Cable & Wireless Global Networks where he was responsible for international connectivity, carrier commercial arrangements and consortium management.

Mr Jamieson will continue in the organisation as Vice-Chairman in support of Mr Dawe.

The article can be found here.

The focus is on cables in the territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline) of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but guidance is also given on cables further offshore.

This Practice Note is available upon request via the 'Documents' page.

ESCA will issue its follow-up press release to industry in due course.

Like food and water, we take the internet for granted. We just expect it to be there, we expect it to work and we care very little about the infrastructure that delivers the internet to us.

The statistic that still surprises many people is that over 98% of all communications are transported globally via a network of optical fibre submarine cables, and not via satellite. Submarine cables, such as the ones owned and maintained by European Subsea Cables Association www.escaeu.org member companies are the backbone of the global internet.

Over the last few years the profile of submarine cables has been improving. Two new cable systems (Hibernia Express, AE Connect) have been built across the Atlantic from America to Europe, the first in over a decade. Also new systems that are been backed by the “Big 4 tech companies” are being built and more are planned.

Unfortunately the increase in publicity of new submarine cables has also resulted in an increase in submarine cable myths that refuse to be dispelled. Every few months a story appears that advises sharks are biting submarine cables or the CIA has submarines tapping cables. Below are the top three myths, and why they’re wrong.

1. Sharks damage submarine cables. http://www.wired.com/2014/08/shark_cable/

It’s a great story guaranteed to be accompanied by a big scary picture of a shark. But there is no evidence that the internet is threatened by sharks. It appeared a few years ago in a story about a new submarine cable with a You Tube clip of a shark being encouraged to bite some kind of cable.

However, a study by the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) of all submarine cable damages from 2007 – 2014 revealed that NO damages whatsoever were attributed to shark activity.

2. Russian submarines are poised to cut submarine cables in the event of conflict. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/world/europe/russian-presence-near-undersea-cables-concerns-us.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

A story James Bond or Jason Bourne would be proud of. It emerged late in 2015 that the USA was concerned about Russian ships and submarines loitering around submarine cables, potentially zeroing in on their locations in readiness to cut them and isolate the USA. To implement such a plan Russia would have to cut some 16 cables in the Atlantic and some 18 cables in the Pacific simultaneously. Whilst not impossible, extremely improbable. Also it is worth remembering that Russia is as dependant on the global submarine cable network as much as any other nation.

The location of submarine cables is not secret, apart from the secret ones! Information on cables is given to the fishing industry via projects such as the European focussed www.kis-orca.eu, so as to avoid damage to cables and capsizing of fishing boats.

3. U.S. Submarines and/ or other clandestine agencies are tapping submarine cables http://www.popsci.com/linkedin-profile-reveals-nsa-used-submarines-to-spy-on-undersea-cables

Quite simply this can’t be done without being detected by the cable owner. You cannot secretly tap a submarine optical fibre cable without being intrusive to the cable itself.

Light will not escape from an optical fibre unless the fibre is bent to such a degree that the ‘angle of incidence’ of the incoming light exceeds the ‘angle of total internal reflection’ of the fibre cladding.

To do this the cable construction would have to be stripped back to expose the bare optical fibres, this includes cutting through the power core of the cable that powers the repeating equipment. The fibre would need to be bent and detection equipment placed on it to capture any escaped light. The light that escaped would diffuse and not be a coherent beam, as it would of been within the fibre. Modern optical fibres can carry 100x100G wavelengths on each fibre that are complexly modulated http://www.xtera.com/high-level-review-new-modulation-formats-high-capacity-optical-networking/. The chances of any diffuse light collected by detection equipment that would be readable are very slim.

You would have to do this for every optical fibre within the cables which could be around 12 for a trans-oceanic cable or possibly 300 for a shorter haul cable.

Now that’s not to say that government agencies do not have access to the information carried on the internet, but there are easier ways to do it than trying to tap a submarine optical fibre cable in the depths of the world’s oceans.

Instead of worrying about Russia and submarines, if the governments of the world are really concerned about the protection of submarine cables they should turn their attention to the two main causes of submarine cable damage…………..Fishing and Anchors! Although I think Bond and Bourne may sit that one out.

Peter Jamieson - Chairman, European Subsea Cables Association

Over 60 delegates from the ESCA membership: submarine cable system owners, maintenance authorities, system manufacturers, cable ship operators, consultants and submarine cable route survey companies from many different countries, will discuss and exchange technical, legal and environmental information affecting the industry.

Confirmed speakers on the agenda include: 

Eugene Bergin, (Mott MacDonald Ltd) – Overview of CIGRE and Power Cables; 

Andrew Thomas, (ETA Connect Ltd) – Challenges Facing The Marine Installer Within The Marine Renewable Power Industry; 

Caroline Elliott (Huddersfield University) – An economic evaluation of the UK subsea cables industry encompassing quantitative and qualitative analyses; 

Brian Greenwood (Winckworth Sherwood LLP) – Subsea Cables - the planning and environmental regulatory process; 

Matthew Frow (Seafish) – Improving offshore awareness & the development of fishermen’s training

Other speakers are Peter Barham – Liaison Officer, Aaron Mair – Fishing Industry Consultant, together with updates from the Chairman and Sub-Group Chairmen.

For further information or if you are thinking of becoming a member, please review the website and/or contact us at: secretary@escaeu.org

The new association has emerged from what was formally Subsea Cables UK. It is a forum of European companies that own, operate and maintain subsea cables or provide services for the subsea cable industry within European and surrounding waters.

The principal goal of ESCA is the promotion of marine safety, safeguarding of subsea cables from man-made and natural hazards and protecting the rights of operators to install and maintain cables.

Peter Jamieson of Virgin Media and Chairman of the European Subsea Cables Association advised: “The requirement to form this new association has come from our membership and it was the logical evolution of the organisation. Close to 50% of the old UK association members were non-UK. Therefore, we can better serve our members by becoming a more regional association”.

Colin Rayman of Red Penguin Associates and ESCA Executive Committee Member advised: “The formation of a European Submarine Cable Association will mean we can now reach out further to enhance our European Maritime and Fishing liaison with Government Departments and Associations with similar interests, and to move closer to attaining mutual understanding of our industries, sharing the seabed safely and maintaining the integrity of assets.”

ESCA provides guidance and technical papers freely to members for the benefit of the sector. The membership of the organisation contains expertise from all areas of the industry and convene bi-annually to share ideas and information.

If you are a marine cable owner, operator, consultant or supplier and are interested in joining the European Subsea Cables Association, please either contact our Chairman or Secretary via the ‘Contacts’ section of the website or download the Membership Application Form, also available on the website via the 'About Us' section.

Guideline No.14 – Power Cable Installation and Guideline No.17 – Testing of AC & DC Subsea Power Cables.

The Guidance has been compiled by a very knowledgeable team from within the European Subsea Cables Association membership and is free to all members.

Tony Zymelka of Zytech Ltd. Chair of the working group that produced the guidance commented “The combined experience of subsea cables that the team and the European Subsea Cables Association bring to these documents has been accumulated over many hundreds of years and many tens of thousands of kilometres of all types of subsea cables installed.

Peter Jamieson of Virgin Media. Chairman of the European Subsea Cables Association added. We have a long history of producing valuable industry guidance that is welcomed globally. Industry experts that are members of the European Subsea Cables Association have freely given their time and experience in the compilation of this guidance for the benefit of all concerned with the subsea cable industry.

The European Subsea Cables Association have therefore produced two articles, one on telecommunication cables and one on power cables. The articles are non-technical in nature and are intending to be an informative and easy read.

The articles can be viewed on our website or are available to download and can be freely distributed.

Please click the following links to download:

Submarine Telecommunications Cables

Submarine Power Cables

The visit is in conjunction with the distribution of KIS-ORCA disks which are available free from the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation, Kingfisher/Seafish, or available for download from the KIS-ORCA website: www.KIS-ORCA.org.

Produced at considerable cost, this additional information distribution was decided by SHEFA after their subsea cable running from Orkney to Banff, which is used to transmit vital and important information, was damaged on three occasions in 2013 after exposed sections were inadvertently snagged by trawlers.

Following these incidents, SHEFA commissioned Kingfisher/Seafish to produce new information in the form of discs and pen drives displaying the cable and highlighting areas where it is not buried and liable to damage.

The updated information will be distributed free by Aaron Mair of Port Hill Marine Ltd. who will be visiting as many ports and fishing businesses as possible from Monday 20th until Friday 24th January to highlight the SHEFA cable and the new information available. Aaron Mair will be accompanied during the tour of Scotland by SHEFA Project Manager Brian Rosendahl.

Run by Aaron Mair, skipper/owner of the Buckie seine netter Astra BCK 67 and the beamer Amoria BCK 36 for 15 years before working with the MMO for 9 years, Port Hill Marine Ltd is contracted as fisheries advisor to the Subsea Cable UK (SCUK) industry including renewables.

The European Subsea Cables Association are the consultative body for the UK Subsea Cable industry representing all the major stakeholders such as BT, Virgin Media, Centrica, Vodafone, Dong, SSE, and many more. The European Subsea Cables Association has a membership of some 40 cable owners and developers. There exists a healthy relationship between the European Subsea Cables Association and SFF and in 2013 both parties signed up to a Memorandum of Understanding in order to progress common understanding between the two industries.

Aaron Mair can be contacted on 01670 542851 and Brain Rosendahl on 00298 243602'