The cable-laying vessel Leon Thevenin finally departed Cape Town Harbour last night around 21:30, heading toward offshore Angola to begin critical repairs on two damaged submarine cables — the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) and the West African Cable System (WACS).
The departure had been delayed for several days due to strong and gale-force winds that battered Cape Town last week, halting operations and loading efforts.
According to a statement from Openserve this morning, all repair equipment and materials were successfully loaded onto the ship by 17:40 yesterday, allowing the vessel to finally set sail.
On board are chief of mission Didier Mainguy, 53 crew members, and a senior representative from the WACS and SAT-3 consortium, who will oversee progress during the voyage.
A Vessel with a Storied History
The Leon Thevenin — a French cable-laying ship named after engineer Léon Charles Thévenin — is renowned for its role in recovering the flight data and voice recorders from Air India Flight 182, destroyed by a mid-air explosion over Irish airspace in 1985, using a robotic submarine known as Scarab 1.
Complex Repairs Ahead
Openserve earlier described the simultaneous damage to both undersea cables as a “complex and unusual event.” The Telkom subsidiary has since been in close coordination with the WACS and SAT-3/WASC consortiums to pinpoint the cause and location of the disruptions.
Investigations have confirmed that the SAT-3/WASC break occurred near Libreville, Gabon, while the WACS break is located close to Luanda, Angola. Both systems run along the Atlantic Ocean, connecting South Africa and several other African nations to Europe.
In South Africa, WACS lands at Yzerfontein, and SAT-3/WASC makes landfall at Melkbosstrand, both on the Western Cape coast.
Impact on Connectivity
The dual cable break, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, 16 January, led to slower international browsing speeds and higher latency for South African users whose Internet Service Providers (ISPs) depend on these cables.
International voice calls and mobile roaming services were also affected.
Openserve and other telecom operators, who hold equity stakes in both cable systems, provide wholesale connectivity to ISPs and global partners. The maintenance and operations committees of the respective consortiums are now coordinating the restoration efforts.
Next Steps
Weather permitting, Openserve anticipates that the Leon Thevenin will reach its first repair site near Luanda by the evening of 28 January.
The ship’s deployment marks a crucial step in restoring Africa’s undersea Internet lifelines, reaffirming the continent’s reliance on shared infrastructure and international collaboration to maintain digital connectivity.
Finally! Hope they fix it fast, my internet’s been crawling! 🐢
Why did it take so long for them to set sail? Delays cost us!
Thank you Leon Thevenin and crew for your hard work! 🌊⚓
I’m curious, how do they actually repair those cables underwater? 🤔
Hope the weather holds up this time. We’ve had enough of the delays already!
Is it just me, or is the internet slower than ever these days? 😩
What a storied history for the Leon Thevenin! Didn’t know it had such a past.