- The Australian Federal Police has charged the Master of a container ship that allegedly damaged the Australia Singapore Cable (ASC).
- The police claim that the ship Maersk Surabaya was behind the submarine cable break on 1 August, which caused about AU$1.5 million (US$1.1m) in damages.
A recent news article published in the Data Center Dynamics by Sebastian Moss states that Australia arrests ship captain accused of damaging Vocus’ ASC Cable.
Captain allegedly engaging in negligent conduct
The captain has been arrested for allegedly engaging in negligent conduct as the Master of a maritime vessel.
And is thought to be the first time someone has been charged under section 37 of schedule 3A of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
He faces up to three years in prison and an AU$40,000 ($29m) fine.
The vessel dragged its anchor during high winds
It is believed that the Maersk Surabaya was anchored approximately 500m from the protection zone, and dragged its anchor through the area during high winds, breaking the cable in multiple places.
“The protection zone is clearly marked on maritime charts and all vessel Masters should ensure vessels operate in a manner which does not interfere with critical communications infrastructure,” AFP Detective Superintendent Graeme Marshall said.
Vocus turned to SubCom to repair the cable
Vocus turned to SubCom to repair the cable, with the ship CS Reliance deployed after four days.
Another four days later, it had spliced the south end of the break and laid new cable to the north.
But bad weather forced the ship to anchor and wait out the storm, before finally fixing the cable on 13 August.
The company was able to reroute traffic
The 4,600km ASC connects Australia to Christmas Island, Jakarta, and Singapore.
While the break caused some increased latency, the company was able to reroute traffic so that there were no major outages.
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Source: Data Center Dynamics
