Europe faces mounting risks to the repair of critical subsea cables due to ageing fleets, regulatory barriers, and a shortage of skilled workers, according to a joint warning from the European Subsea Cables Association (ESCA) and the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA).
The two groups stated that current gaps could threaten both data traffic and energy flows in the event of outages, thereby undermining economic stability and security. Their call follows the EU’s Cable Security Action Plan, launched earlier this year to strengthen resilience.
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Subsea cables are the invisible infrastructure of modern Europe,” said ESCA Chairman, Stephen Dawe, urging governments to remove legislative bottlenecks. IMCA Chief Executive, Iain Grainger, warned that without investment and streamlined rules, “capacity gaps will emerge at precisely the moment when we can least afford them.
While telecoms cables benefit from multinational repair agreements, fleets are ageing, and licensing regimes vary widely across the EU. Power cables, essential for offshore wind and cross-border interconnectors, face greater challenges: specialist vessels are often tied up on installation projects and lack an EU-wide maintenance framework, with cross-border permits slowing repairs.
The associations urged a threefold response involving public-private investment to modernize fleets and stockpile spares, new training programs for cable engineers and jointing experts, and emergency fast-track approvals across Member States.
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The UK has also flagged concerns. In June, MPs on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) examined national preparedness, highlighting Bude in Cornwall as a strategic vulnerability. Two cables landing there carry 75% of Britain’s transatlantic data traffic. A recent CSRI report also pointed to cable incidents involving vessels linked to Russia and China, while officials acknowledged gaps in maritime surveillance.
The UK’s new surveillance vessel, RFA Proteus, has limited repair capability but faces commissioning delays. Emerging technologies such as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) could provide real-time monitoring of seabed activity.
Industry leaders warn that unless governments step up, both the EU and UK risk entering a period where cable resilience is most needed but least assured.
