Telstra warns container ships off its subsea paths

Australian telecommunications and media company Telstra reportedly has to divert captains of up to 50 container ships per month found to be travelling in close proximity to its subsea cable infrastructure paths.
Darrin Webb, Executive Director, International Operations & Services and Managing Director, Northeast Asia, Telstra Corporation Limited has released an official blog posting sharing the efforts the company must go to in order to protect its underwater connectivity.
According to Webb, the container ports of Singapore and Hong Kong, two of the world’s busiest and shallowest, regularly keep Telstra’s cable maintenance team busy. “Unfortunately, the combination of heavy traffic from big commercial vessels, shallow water and the sheer number of cables that connect to landing stations around these ports, does not bode well for our cables.”
In order to avoid damage, Telstra’s maintenance team monitors the location of each container ship in relation to their cables through the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS). The AIS provides information on each vessel, such as their unique identification number, position, course, and speed. “If a ship gets too close, our team will make a call to the captain so they can adjust their course. On average, our team contacts 30 – 50 container ships a month,” Webb said.