Chinese Ship Suspected Of Damaging Subsea Cable Off Taiwan May Have Used 2 AIS Devices

Per Taiwan’s Coast Guard, the Chinese-owned vessel suspected of having damaged a subsea cable off Taiwan’s northern coast was using 2 different AIS transponders.

It happened on Friday around 1240 hours when Chungwha Telecom informed Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration ( CGA) that a subsea communications cable was severed off the Keelung coast.

The cable was a part of the Trans-Pacific Express, a high-speed fibre optic cable connecting China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and the U.S.

A Taiwan coast guard patrol boat intercepted the freighter Xing Shun 39 at 1700 hours, near the place where the cable had been broken.

The Coast Guard could not board the ship and instead of going to a Taiwanese port, the ship headed to South Korea’s Busan, leaving Taiwanese jurisdiction that same day.

The Coast Guard identified the ship as Shunxing-39, however, no reference to the ship was found in the records of the IMO.

This led the officials to believe that the freighter possibly used 2 different AIS devices and identities, its real name Xing Shun 39 and a similar fake name, Shunxing-39.

It switched back and forth to create a false and interrupted AIS record.

William Conroy, an analyst with Semaphore Maritime Solutions, said that the vessel seemed to switch AIS devices when asked by Taiwan CGA to stop for inspection.

He added that Sunxing-39 disappeared from AIS tracking at 1651 hours on Friday and Xing Shun appeared a minute later 50 feet away.

The freighter is not reachable to Taiwanese officials, but they have asked Busan’s port authorities to help them in gaining evidence from the ship when it arrives in South Korea.

The case will be sent to Keelung’s prosecutor’s office for possible criminal or civil actions against the ship.

Meanwhile, CGA will launch a review of its process to respond to potential cable sabotage incidents that involve ships to help it respond better in case something like this happens again. It is also coordinating with other agencies, officials told state news agency CNA.

References: New York Times

Source: Maritime Shipping News