Commercial shipping activity 'most likely cause' of severed Red Sea cables

The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) has released a statement linking commercial shipping activity to the severing of subsea cables in the Red Sea that has rerouted internet traffic and caused reports of connectivity issues in the region in recent days. 

Posting on professional social media platform LinkedIn, the UK-headquartered, government-industry membership organisation ICPC said, "Early independent analysis suggests the most likely cause of the damage is commercial shipping activity in the region."

IPCC operations manager John Wrottesley told Riviera the organisation’s member companies routinely monitor vessel movements in the vicinity of submarine cables using AIS monitoring and other techniques.

"This allows the route of vessels to be tracked and indicates which vessels would have been passing over the cables coinciding with the estimated time of the faults," Mr Wrottesley said.

The ICPC said dragged anchors are the cause of nearly 30% of submarine cable damage incidents globally each year and noted 15 operating submarine cables pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, near Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.

According to its website, the ICPC estimates repair costs for damage to telecommunications cables at approximately US$750,000-1.25M per incident and repairs to damaged power cables to run between US$10M-US$100M. 

"It is worth noting that generally only those incidents which cause disruption to communications or electricity supply get media attention, however far more incidents of cable damage occur each week than [are] covered in the news. Therefore coverage can lead to the speculation that such incidents are uncommon or suspicious – however such incidents can be attributed to poor seamanship practices, equipment failure or improper stowage of anchors," the ICPC said.

The organisation’s fact sheet also cites an incident in which the Liberia-flagged vessel Blue Princess damaged three submarine cables in the Red Sea in 2012. Over a period of 12 hours on 17 February 2012, the vessel’s AIS showed it crossing over the SEA-ME-WE 3, EASSy, and EIG cables, causing multiple cable faults. "The vessel could be tracked using AIS as crossing the cables at a similar time as faults were reported and appeared to become fastened to the cable with the speed reducing to zero at the time of the final fault during that period," the ICPC said.

8 September

Subsea cables in the Red Sea have been cut, impacting internet network traffic, according to US-based technology firm Microsoft.

Warning of increased latency (slower speeds) on internet traffic routes through the Middle East, Microsoft said its network traffic would not be interrupted, with the company using alternative routes for internet traffic, and that any internet traffic not traversing the Middle East region would not be impacted.

"Starting at 05:45 UTC on 06 September 2025, network traffic traversing through the Middle East may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea. Network traffic is not interrupted as Microsoft has rerouted traffic through alternate network paths. We do expect higher latency on some traffic that previously traversed through the Middle East," the company said.

No official cause for the reported cuts to the subsea cables has been cited, but a representative of the internationally recognised Yemeni government linked the cable cuts to attacks on commercial shipping by the Yemeni rebel Houthi militia.

"Several international undersea cables in the Red Sea have been cut, potentially leading to slower internet services between the continents of Asia and Europe, coinciding with escalating maritime piracy and random attacks launched by the terrorist Houthi on commercial ships and oil tankers. This is a destructive role played by the militia in undermining global digital infrastructure, threatening global internet security and freedom of maritime movement," Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani said in a statement to social media site X (formerly Twitter).

"This incident cannot be isolated from the series of direct attacks carried out by the Houthi militia targeting undersea cables in the Red Sea, in addition to their terrorist activities causing cable disruptions due to repeated attacks on ships in Yemeni territorial waters," he said.

Mr Al-Eryani claimed that the Houthi sinking of the commercial ship Rubymar resulted in damage to four undersea cables and impacted internet services. On 2 March, 2024, Belize-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier Rubymar sank in the Red Sea after being struck by a Houthi missile two weeks earlier on 18 February.

Houthi spokesmen and online outlets have denied claims that they are responsible for previous subsea cable cuts and have not claimed responsibility for the most recent cuts to internet cables in the region.

Undersea cables can be damaged or severed for multiple reasons, both accidental and deliberate.

--Riviera News Editor, Jamey Bergman