BBC News, Accra
BBCA football field-sized ship consisting of more than 50 engineers and technicians, parades across Africa to keep the mainland online.
It provides an important service, as shown by last year’s internet blackout, when the internet cable buried deep in the sea is damaged.
Millions from Lagos to Nairobi are trapped in digital darkness: messaging apps crash and bank transactions fail. It makes businesses and individuals struggle.
It was Léon Thévenin that fixed multiple cable failures. The BBC team recently spent a week on the Ghana coast and has been working on this professional repair job for the past 13 years
The BBC told the BBC that South Africa’s wired connector Shuru Arendse, who has been working on the ship for more than a decade, told the BBC.
“The people at home have jobs because I bring in the main feed,” he said.
“You have a life-saving hero – I’m a hero because I save communication.”
His pride and passion reflect the views of the skilled crew on Léon Thévenin, who was eight stories tall and equipped with various equipment.
The Internet is a network of computer servers – Read this article, there may be at least one of 600 fiber optic cables that collect data to display it on the screen.
Most of these servers are located in data centers outside Africa, with fiber optic cables running along the seabed, connecting them to coastal cities on the mainland.
Data travels through thin fiberglass wires, usually grouped in pairs, and is protected by different plastics and copper depending on how far the cable is from the coast.
“As long as the server is not in the country, you need to connect. The cable runs from a country that connects users to the servers that store data – whether it’s access to Facebook or any other online service.”
Subsea fiber optic cables are designed for 25 years of maintenance, but when they are damaged, it is usually due to human activities.
“Unless you are in an area of quite high current and very sharp rocks, the cable usually doesn’t break itself,” said Charles Heald, who is in charge of the ship’s remote control vehicle (ROV).
“But in most cases people anchor where they shouldn’t be, anglers sometimes scratch along the seabed, so usually we see scars from trawling.”
Mr Smith also said that natural disasters can cause damage to the cables, especially in extreme weather conditions on the continent. He gave examples of the oceans along the coast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Congo River empty into the Atlantic Ocean.
“In the Congo Canyon, their rainfall and tides are low, which can cause current to damage the cables,” he said.
Intentional destruction is difficult to identify – but Léon Thévenin staff said they did not see any obvious evidence.
A year ago, three key cables in the Red Sea – Seacom, AAE -1 and EIG- It is reportedly anchored by the shipdestroying the connectivity of millions throughout East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.
Just one month later, in March 2024, WACS, ACE, SAT-3 and Mainone cables caused severe internet blackouts near the West African coast Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia.
Anything that requires the internet to run will feel the stress of repairs as they last for weeks.
Then, in May, another setback: Seacom and Easy cables suffered damage on the South African coast, and once again encountered connectivity in multiple East African countries.
Such failures were detected by testing the electrical and signal strength transmitted through the cable.
“There could be 3,000 volts on the cable, and suddenly drops to 50 volts, which means there is a problem,” explained Loic Wallerand, the ship’s mission director.
Local teams have the ability to deal with faults in shallow water, but if they are found to be more than 50m (164 feet) deep, the ship will be asked to take action. Its crew can secure cables above 5,000m below sea level.
The BBC’s testimony of the repair in Ghana took more than a week to handle, but most internet users didn’t notice that the traffic was redirected to another cable.
The nature of each repair depends on the part of the cable that is damaged.
If the core is broken, it means that the data cannot propagate along the network and needs to be sent to another cable.
But some African countries only have one cable to serve them. This means that the cables damaged in this way make the affected area free of internet.
At other times, the protective layer of the fiber may be damaged, meaning data transfers will still occur but are less efficient. In both cases, the crew must find the exact location of the damage.
In the case of fiberglass breakage, optical signals are sent through the cable and reflection points, and the crew can determine the location of the break.
When the problem lies in the insulation layer of the cable (called a “split fault”), it becomes more complex and electrical signals must be sent along the cable to physically track its lost location.
After narrowing down the possible area of failure, the operation moves to the ROV team.
The ROV weighing 9.5 tons was built like a bulldozer and lowered from the ship, which was guided to the seabed.
About five crew members deployed it with the crane operator – once it was released from the seat belt, called the umbilical cord, it floated gracefully.
“It won’t sink,” Mr. Hilder said, explaining how it moves in any direction using four horizontal and vertical thrusters.
The ROV’s three cameras allow the team to find the exact location of the failure on the ship as it moves to the seabed.
After discovery, the ROV used its two arms to cut the affected part and tied it to a rope that was dragged back to the boat.
Here, the faulty part is isolated and spliced and connected to the new cable – the process looks like soldering, which took 24 hours in the BBC-witted operation.
After that, the cable was carefully lowered back to the seabed, and the ROV took the final journey to check it was well placed and coordinates so that the map could be updated.
When alerts were received about damaged cables, Léon Thévenin crews were ready to sail within 24 hours. However, their response time depends on several factors: the location of the ship, the availability of spare cables, and bureaucratic challenges.
“The permit can take weeks. Sometimes we sail to affected countries, waiting for paperwork at sea,” Mr Wallerland said.
On average, crew members spend more than six months at sea each year.
Captain Thomas Quehec said: “It’s part of the work.”
However, talking to crew members between missions is hard to ignore their personal sacrifices.
They come from different backgrounds and nationalities: French, South African, Filipino, Malagasy, etc.
Adrian Morgan, the ship’s main steward, missed five wedding anniversary days for five consecutive wedding anniversary days.
“I want to quit. It’s hard to stay away from my family, but my wife encouraged me. I’ll do it for them,” he said.
Noel Goeieman, another South African maintenance fitter, is worried that if the boat is asked to head to another mission, he may miss his son’s wedding in a few weeks.
“I heard we might go to Durban [in South Africa]. My son will be very sad because he doesn’t have a mom. “Mr. Goyman, who lost his wife three years ago, said.
“But I’m going to retire within six months,” he added with a smile.
Despite the emotional damage, there is still friendship on the ship.
When off work, the crew either play video games in the lounge or share meals in the Mess Hall on board.
The backgrounds they entered into the profession were as diverse as theirs.
When Mr. Goeieman follows his father’s footsteps, Chief Cook, South Africa’s Remario Smith went out to sea to escape the life of crime.
“I was involved in the gang as a kid, and my kid was born at 25, and I knew I had to change my life,” Mr. Smith said.
Like the rest of the ship, he appreciated the role the ship played on the continent.
“We are the connection between Africa and the world,” said Ferron Hartzenberg, chief engineer.
Other reports by Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah.
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