PEACE subsea cable severed in the Red Sea; repair to take months amid ship crunch
A break ~1,450km from Zafarana, Egypt, hits Asia-Europe-Africa traffic; a global cable-ship shortage stretches the fix and re-routes capacity
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Separate anchor-drag incident at Bab el-Mandeb on June 26 simultaneously severed SMW4, IMEWE, FALCON GCX and the Europe India Gateway, degrading connectivity across India, Pakistan, the Gulf and Africa and affecting Microsoft Azure in the Middle East. The corridor's second multi-cable event within two days confirms the chronic risk from drifting or poorly anchored vessels in conflict-adjacent waters. ↗
Summary
The PEACE Subsea Cable system was severed in the Red Sea some 1,450km from Zafarana, Egypt, disrupting Asia-Europe-Africa internet traffic; the industry expects a repair measured in months rather than weeks because of a global cable-ship capacity crunch that has delayed and re-routed many projects. The cause is unknown. The Red Sea is a chronic chokepoint: Houthi attacks since November 2023 have left abandoned, drifting ships that can drag anchors across the seabed, and contested waters slow permitting and recovery. Operators leaned on redundancy, re-routing via alternative systems, to keep regional Internet Infrastructure from going dark, echoing the earlier Aletar cut.
By the numbers
- ~1,450 km, distance of the PEACE break from Zafarana, Egypt.
- Months, industry repair estimate versus weeks in a normal year, owing to vessel scarcity.
- 4, cables severed in a second incident on June 26 by an anchor drag at Bab el-Mandeb (SMW4, IMEWE, FALCON GCX, Europe India Gateway).
- Nov 2023, start of Houthi Red Sea attacks that compound cable risk.
- ~25,000 km, full PEACE system length (Asia-Africa-Europe).
Why it matters
The Red Sea concentrates a large share of east-west internet capacity in a narrow, conflict-adjacent corridor. With repair ships scarce, each cut now lasts longer, turning a maintenance problem into a strategic vulnerability for the Gulf's AI and cloud build-out.
What to watch
- Whether repair vessels can be cleared into the Bab el-Mandeb/Red Sea area for the multi-cable June 26 incident, given Houthi threats and permitting constraints.
- Whether the PEACE cut (June 25) and the Bab el-Mandeb cuts (June 26) can share repair vessel scheduling, or compound the vessel shortage.
- Attribution of both incidents to anchor-drag or deliberate damage.
- Re-routing capacity on AAE-1 and remaining intact systems as multiple corridors are simultaneously degraded.