Subsea Environmental Services Recycles 1,012 km of TAT-8 Cable, 38 Years After Atlantic Debut
Updated
Updated · wired.me · May 13
Subsea Environmental Services Recycles 1,012 km of TAT-8 Cable, 38 Years After Atlantic Debut
1 articles · Updated · wired.me · May 13
1,012 km of retired TAT-8 cable is being offloaded in Leixões, Portugal, after Subsea Environmental Services pulled it from the seabed for recycling.
TAT-8, the first fiberoptic cable to link Europe and the United States, entered service in 1988, was taken out in 2002 after a fault proved too costly to repair, and remained on the ocean floor until now.
14 crew aboard Subsea’s MV Maasvliet recovered the cable with grapnel hooks and route-position data, a weather-delayed operation that also clears proven seabed routes for newer cables.
More than 100 repeaters and the cable’s steel, copper and polyethylene will be processed by Mertech Marine in South Africa and recyclers in the Netherlands; the fiber itself is the main component not worth reusing.
The recovery highlights how nearly 600 subsea cables still carry most intercontinental traffic, while industry veterans say damage is more often about maintenance and seabed conditions than shark attacks or sabotage.
Is mining the Atlantic for old cables the next green gold rush as copper prices soar?
If our internet cables can now sense ship movements, what new global security risks will emerge?
With the internet's backbone aging and its workforce retiring, who will be left to keep the world connected?
From TAT-8 to Tomorrow: The Landmark 6,000 km Cable Recovery Powering the Maritime Circular Economy
Overview
The ongoing recovery of the historic TAT-8 transatlantic cable, managed by Subsea Environmental Services, marks a major milestone in subsea infrastructure. Offshore workers and engineers are carefully retrieving the cable from the seabed using the specialized vessel MV Maasvliet. Originally laid in 1988, TAT-8 played a key role in global communications until it was retired in 2002. This operation not only clears valuable seabed routes for future technology but also recycles important materials, setting a new standard for sustainable management of aging subsea cables.