Canada’s fleet of cable-laying ships looking for more work at home

After a brief stop in Halifax, a fleet of three cable-laying ships are heading out to sea to connect the world.

“We primarily operate in the northern hemisphere, but we essentially go anywhere that the Government of Canada and its economic sanctions will allow us to go,” says Steve Arsenault, marketing VP for IT International Telecom.

There are only three cable-laying ships in Canada and combined they’ve put down thousands of kilometres of cable around the world.

Carrying 99 per cent of all data traffic, underwater fibreoptic cables are an integral part of international communications but the benefits extend beyond the ability to send and receive email.

“We've done a few jobs where we've dropped down scientific devices that are used for tsunami warnings, tracking mammals, sub-sea mammals, and things like that,” says the company’s CCO Paul Kravis.

Some of that work is done in Canadian waters, but there one region remains underserved.

“An interesting facet of this vessel is that she does carry polar class. So we are capable of moving into colder, ice-infested climates to facilitate that work,” says Geoff Dunlop, captain of the IT Infinity.

“It's important when you think about rural communities or small islands or very remote locations. We are making the connection for medical, education, access to the Internet in general. So it's a very key aspect of everything we do in the world today,” Kravis says.

According to Arsenault, a recent incident where an underwater cable was severed in the Baltic Sea should encourage the government to make the north a priority.

“We see this as a golden opportunity for Canada and Canadians to really plant our flag in the Arctic,” Arsenault says. “There is a defence and deterrent aspect to this where we would be able to install acoustic measuring devices that would detect and deter any threat-actors who want to impose on our Canadian Arctic.

“This is critical infrastructure. There are governments around the world that are starting to take notice of subsea fiberoptic cables and their importance. I think that can be shown in the situation in the Baltic Sea at the moment. But the reality is for Canada this capability exists domestically, we're standing aboard it here today.”

Arsenault says countries like France, the United Kingdom and the United States are ahead of the game. Three-thousand kilometres of cable has been laid off Alaska since 2022, while Canada doesn't have any under the Arctic ice.