Repair Ships
Cape Town’s winds in its full glory prevented the cable repair ship from leaving Cape Town harbour. The ship named the Leon Thevenin, was trapped due to winds that reached 30km/h and had gusts of almost 80km/h. According to Marinetraffic.com on 21 January 2020 at 17:01, the vessel is still docked in the harbour.
How the Situation is Being Handled
All traffic is now rerouted around the north of Africa, down its east coast through the SEACOM and EASSY cables, to where it meets land at Mtunzini in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Then data is transferred over land to the rest of the country.
Afrihost, Axxess and Webafrica didn’t want to wait for the repair to restore speed to their clients and bought extra international bandwidth to cope with the high volumes needed.
Cable Repair
To repair this cable, the ship needs to locate the exact point where it broke. When the break is found, the cable needs to be lifted up, spliced and put back into the seabed.
- Read my article on the full explanation of where the cables broke and how it affects South Africa.
Prognosis
Thus far, it looks like the ship could take about two weeks to reach and repair the closest of the two damaged cables. The trip to the damage site will reportedly take up to 6 days and the repair about a week.
Closing
With the ship still docked and weather not looking better, your internet may still be slow for a while. Again, don’t blame or get mad at your service provider, the problem is far beyond their reach.
