Maritime mission

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Suture time

Knowing these challenges well, the almost 60-member crew of Raymond Croze remained confident of success as they reached the repair zone for the SMW4 cable on 22nd December. The ship deployed a remote operated vehicle (ROV) undersea to inspect the cable and find the exact location of the fault.

"ROVs are part of the equipment used on cable ships. These are submarines linked to the ship by an umbilical cord and they go down to around 1500m . They can localise precisely the fault, visualise it and provide video on board. They are also used after repairs for inspection and cable burial. At depths below 1500m, ships have to use grapnels to hook cables. Ships also have some equipment to preserve the continuity of transmission between stations while repairs are conducted on the damaged cable," says Polloni.

The normal repair process involves hooking the damaged cable to the ship. Following this, the strength of the cable is tested with station A, and then with station B. Using the equipment on board, continuity between these stations are ensured while the actual fixing of the cable takes place. When the cable is repaired, the signal is again tested between the two stations and when it is the right strength, the cable is released onto the sea bed.

Following this standard procedure, the cable ship Raymond Croze was able to repair the slice on the SMW4 cable on December 24th and traffic activation was scheduled to be completed the next day. However, complications arose when a new fault was located on the SMW4 cable late on 25th, around 400km off Egypt and some 1400km from the original repair. After rapid co-ordination with the consortium members, Raymond Croze headed off to the second site of SMW4 repairs, instead of to repair the SMW3 fault as originally planned.

Meanwhile, the Italian ship Teliri repaired the FLAG cable on December 29th. Orange and all operators using FLAG started re-establishing capacity on the fixed cable. As of 31st December, all capacity built on the FLAG cable was stable, and traffic had resumed on this link. Following this, Teliri sailed to repair the SMW3 fault.

On 4th January, the second SMW4 fault was successfully repaired, and the next day the SMW3 cut was rectified.

Adventure on the high seas

"The only challenge we encountered apart from the ones that we had expected previously was the experience of getting people in during the holiday season. Many people had to come in to the office and give up their vacations. That was a major challenge. Fortunately though, Orange personnel were willingly mobilised and worked hard until the environment was back in shape," says Polloni.

Brault adds, "Communication was also a huge challenge. Throughout the crisis, the teams had to communicate between each other and precisely. Moreover, customers had to be constantly informed on the progress. This factual communication is key to maintaining confidence."

Despite the many things that could potentially go wrong with such mid-sea repairs, or maybe because of that, Polloni continues to find the work fascinating.

"It is fascinating to work on such repairs because it is quite challenging and because of the tempestuous nature of the work environment. However, I have to mention, that there needs to be a method of repair in place. For every repair process the teams should be prepared in advance so that even the worst conditions can be managed," he says.

Polloni urges cable repair teams to be on their toes, pointing out that the likelihood of damage to submarine cables remain high across the world due to the amount of cables laid out as well as the nature of their location.

"There are more than a million kilometres of cable undersea and there are lots of ways they could be damaged. It can be via ship's anchors, or fishing trawlers close to the shore or they can be crushed by geological phenomenon like quakes or landslides. We try to prevent these by avoiding laying cables over routes that are known for unstable geological factors. We also explain our cable routes to shipping and fishing companies and allow them to download these routes from our website to avoid damaging them," says Polloni.

In spite of these preventive measures, submarine cables continue to be damaged, but as long as we have teams like Orange's around - with their interest and dedication in the work, as well as their taste for adventure on the high seas - we can rest assured that these faults will be rectified in no time.

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