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A submarine cable fouled by a ship’s anchor
Under
Submarine cables
‘anchor’ the
internet, but a
ship’s anchor in
the
sea, transoceanic telecommunications (including

the internet) are now almost totally dependent
sea
While shipowners may rely on satellites
for communications with their vessels at
the submarine cable network on a single working day.
This economic and social reliance is emphasised
when cables are disrupted as was the case on 26th
December, 2006. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake off
a cable exposes upon fibre-optic submarine cables, which are southern Taiwan triggered submarine landslides
a shipowner to now recognised as critical infrastructure by many and mud flows that travelled over 245km across
significant but governments. the deep ocean floor, causing 22 cable breaks en
avoidable risk, says Since the first transoceanic, fibre-optic cable route. Communications, data and internet traffic
Dean Veverka was laid in 1988 the world has undergone a were extensively disrupted. Despite emergency
communications revolution: click the SEND button restoration measures via intact cables, internet speeds
on an email to an overseas shipping office and there is were slow for the next seven weeks as 11 cable ships
almost a 100 per cent probability that the message will worked to repair the damage. The overall impact was
pass through one or more submarine cables. Voice, substantial.
data and internet connections used for commerce, Although the Taiwan earthquake was a major
finance, education, entertainment and emergencies event, such hazards are not the main cause of cable
are also heavily dependent upon cables. For example, faults. Records extending back to 1959 reveal that
one major international bank has an average of fishing and shipping activities account for at least
$3.9 trillion dollars of transactions taking place over 60 per cent of all cable faults whereas natural hazards
14
www.shippingandmarine.co.uk
Lead story
cause less than ten per cent. Recently, due to the straightforward since the vessel is expected to avoid
increasing use of Automatic Identification System cables that appear on charts or are otherwise known
(AIS) technology in some regions, cable faults caused actually or constructively to the master.
by vessel anchors and fishing gear has been evaluated The use of AIS has also been useful in highlighting
at 77 per cent of all faults. aspects of anchor damage that can easily be
Various modes of fishing involving placement of prevented. There have been 53 cable faults around the
heavy gear on the seabed result in 50 to 100 faults a UK between 2007 and 2010, of which 19 were caused
year, typically in water depths shallower than 1500m, by anchors. Analysis of AIS data and subsequent
a common depth limit for bottom trawl fisheries. investigation and claim recoveries determined that
In contrast, the main threat posed by shipping is 13 of the faults involved vessels that did not properly
anchoring and so the ‘danger zone’ for cables is on secure their anchors for sea with the use of a chain
the continental shelf in depths less than 200m. stopper, pawl, or other mechanical device. Instead,
With so much at stake, the cable industry, in only the hand brake on the anchor windlass was
consultation with other marine industries and used. In the course of sea passage, a brake can loosen
governments, undertakes a range of measures and an anchor deployed, frequently with the watch
to protect this critical infrastructure. Positions of unaware that the anchor was dragging. Another
submarine cables are reported to national charting incident off Sicily in 2008 involved a single 58,000
authorities so that their presence on navigation charts ton tanker that dragged its anchor over 300km and
is visible to all mariners. damaged six international cables in water depths
It is customary in the submarine cable industry down to 180m. The common error in these cases was
to maintain toll-free telephone access on a 24/7 a decision by the crew not to secure the anchor for
year-round basis so that vessel masters and owners sea, possibly because the passage was considered
can report when cables are fouled on anchors or coastal, there was crew shortage, a desire to avoid
other ship’s gear. If fouling occurs, international law paying overtime, or pure negligence. But regardless
requires it to be sacrificed to avoid damage to the of the reason, ineffective anchor stowage is not the
cable. When a vessel sacrifices its anchor or gear to action of a prudent seaman. The damages to the
prevent injury to a cable, international law obligates cables are all violations of international law and are
the cable owner to indemnify the vessel for the examples of bad seamanship, in addition to being
cost of the sacrificed anchor or gear, providing the violations of domestic criminal or civil maritime law.
cable was not fouled in the first place by the vessel’s As responsible users of the sea, vessel owners,
negligence. The policy behind this legal requirement their underwriters, and crews should comply with
is that disruption to international communications is the basic seamanship obligation and implement
to be avoided and has priority over the replacement procedures to positively confirm that the ship’s
of sacrificed anchors or gear. International law also anchor is secured for sea with the mechanical
requires nations to implement the provisions of the devices for that purpose carried by the vessel. The
United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (1982) by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is also
establishing domestic criminal and civil law penalties encouraged to review this significant and avoidable
upon those who damage submarine cables wilfully or threat to international communications to determine
by culpable negligence. These measures all contribute if changes in vessel equipment or manning and
to reducing avoidable cable faults. training standards can be improved. The importance
The cost of repairing a submarine cable averages of reducing such easily preventable damage to the
between $1 million to $3 million. Repairs involve world’s critical infrastructure fully justifies such
specialised cable ships with highly trained crews that measures by all concerned with vessel operations. v
cost tens of thousands of dollars per day in addition
to the replacement costs of damaged cables and other DEAN VEVERKA
consumables. According to one survey, the historical Dean Veverka is the chairman of the ICPC.
average repair period is 20.6 days. Additionally, in The International Cable Protection Committee
some cases, further costs arise because of the need to (ICPC) is a non-profit organisation that encourages
co-operation with other users of the seabed
reroute and restore communications using unaffected
and facilitates the exchange of technical, legal
cable systems. These restoration costs can exceed the and environmental information concerning
actual repair costs! submarine cable installation, maintenance and
When cables are damaged, the vessel owner and its protection. It has 125 members representing
underwriter can expect a claim brought against the telecommunications and power cable companies,
government departments, cableship operators,
vessel in an admiralty court. With AIS, the problem
marine survey companies and scientific
of identifying the vessel that caused the damage has organisations from over 60 countries.
been greatly simplified. Liability under the general For more information, visit www.iscpc.org.
maritime law for cable damage by vessels is normally
15
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A submarine cable fouled by a ship’s anchor

sea, transoceanic telecommunications (including

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