Posts Tagged ‘Cable breaks’
Finland releases cable-damaging tanker
Finnish police on Sunday released the dark-fleet tanker accused of damaging an undersea cable between Finland and Estonia on 25 December.
The police are continuing to investigate the Eagle S and members of its crew, but the enquiry, they said, had reached a point where it was no longer necessary to prevent the ship from leaving Finnish waters.
The decision came after Fingrid, the Finnish grid operator, and Elering, its Estonian counterpart, waived their right to continue to have the Cook Islands-flagged vessel detained, saying that the cost of doing so would likely exceed its value.
The two firms said they still plan to file a lawsuit against the Eagle S and its Dubai-based owner for the damages the ship caused.
Read MoreAnalysis Securing critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region
THE EU AND the circum-Baltic states have made progress connecting the region and increasing prosperity, but Russian political warfare—including the destruction of critical infrastructure and assassinations throughout Europe threatens those objectives.
Read MoreThird disruption of Finland-Germany cable reported
Finnish and Swedish authorities are investigating a possible breach of the C-Lion 1 undersea cable linking Finland and Germany, Yle, a Finnish news outlet, reports.
The location of the break is reported to be near the island of Gotland in the Swedish economic zone, where a number of subsea cables have been damaged in recent months.
The cause of the break was not immediately known, and it may be due to the previous damage done the cable, a source told Yle.
The C-Lion 1 submarine cable, operated by Cinia, a Finland-based firm, was last damaged on Christmas Day. Finnish authorities believe that break was caused by the Eagle S, an oil tanker suspected of acting on Moscow’s orders. The same cable was also damaged last November.
Source: Yle
Read MoreEU in talks to fund fleet to repair damaged subsea cables
The European Union is mulling a public-private initiative worth “hundreds of millions” of euros to buy ships that can promptly repair subsea cables in case of damage or sabotage, the bloc’s tech chief said.
“We are discussing now with member states what would be the amount that is needed,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “When it comes to security we see that there’s an urgent need for action.”
In recent months, there have been a string of incidents in the Baltic Sea in which telecommunication and power cables strung across the sea floor between countries were damaged by passing ships. While it is unclear whether these disruptions were accidental or intentional, they have spurred the EU to focus on its infrastructure’s resilience, including by ramping up the continent’s cable-repairing fleet.
Subsea cables carry internet and power connections across countries and continents and their loss can cause disruptions to digital services, including web access and payments, and force telecommunications providers to reroute traffic. More than 95% of global data traffic goes through subsea cables, according to the International Cable Protection Committee.
Source: Bloomberg
Read MoreNato looks to Baltic as proving ground for AI, crewless vessels
Nato says it is ready to deploy artificial intelligence and uncrewed vessels in the Baltic as part of its increasing efforts to detect the telltale activity that could indicate that a ship is preparing to damage undersea cables and pipelines.
The military alliance’s hope is that it can use software to process information from satellite imagery, sonar systems and underwater sensors to spot merchant vessels that appear to be acting erratically above undersea infrastructure.
The software, known as Mainsail (a backronym for Multi-Domain Awareness and Insight with AI Layering), has been developed in response to concerns that Russia is engaged in a campaign of damaging undersea infrastructure in and around Europe.
The most dramatic of example of an attack on undersea infrastructure was the 2022 sabatoge of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The evidence there points to Ukraine, but similar incidents in which Moscow is implicated were recorded before then; in recent months, the number has increased rapidly.
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In November and December of 2024 alone, three separate cables carrying internet data and power between in the Baltic, connecting five Nato members—Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden—were severely damaged in incidents.
In most incidents, the damaging vessel—Russian or otherwise—cannot be identified, just as it is impossible to ascertain whether the damage was intentional. Both are often due to a lack of information. As a result, Nato has increased its presence in the Baltic Sea. It is hoped that, where they cannot deter future attacks, they can at least help to clear up which vessel is at fault.
As part of this effort, it is incorporating autonomous vessels that will be able to conduct persistent surveillance over large areas.
Labelled Task Force X, all members of the alliance were invited on to take part, but the hope is that Baltic Rim states will be among those to take the lead.
Nato says the countries taking contributing to the initiative are free to deploy their own assets, making it a proving ground of sorts that puts emerging technologies into active service.
Baltic Sea shipping tax could pay for undersea cable protection: Estonian defence minister
Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia’s defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches.
Nato said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and drones in the Baltic Sea after a series of incidents in which ships have damaged power and communications cables with their anchors in acts of suspected sabotage.
In addition to the patrols, Hanno Pevkur, the defence minister, said countries are weighing other measures to protect cables, including installing sensors to detect anchors dragged across the sea floor or constructing casings or walls around the cables.
But this will come at a cost, and, whether countries or cable operators end up paying for it, consumers may be left ultimately footing the bill through higher taxes or utility costs. Another option, Mr Pevkur said, would be to levy a tax on vessels that sail through the Baltic Sea.
Source: Reuters
Read MoreFinland, Estonia to join up to protect subsea cables
Finland and Estonia on Friday have agreed to increase the security of their subsea infrastructure, which includes power and telecommunications cables as well as the Balticconnector gas pipeline that was damaged a year ago.
The agreement, announced in Helsinki on Friday, will see the two countries join forces to on things like technical surveillance, patrolling and repair capacities of subsea infrastructure in the Baltic.
It comes amid what Tallin and Helsinki say has been an increased number of threats against subsea infrastructure, and as countries around the Baltic rim are looking to expand all manner of subsea connections.
Finnish police continue to investigate cause of the Balticconnector damage, while Estonian police are looking into damage to subsea telecommunications links that occurred around the same time. Police in both countries have yet to provide their conclusions.
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