News
Cyprus and Greece issue seabed survey notices for Asia-Europe cable
The notices cover geophysical work by the survey vessel Kobi Ruegg in the two countries' exclusive economic zones, with Cyprus's window running from 2 to 15 November.
Cyprus and Greece have issued navigational warnings for seabed surveys connected to a planned fibre-optic cable system linking Asia with Europe, in areas within their exclusive economic zones.
The notices became public on Friday. Cyprus’s notice was issued by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and is valid from 2 to 15 November. It covers geophysical survey operations by the vessel Kobi Ruegg for the East to Med Corridor cable system within Cyprus’s EEZ.
Greece’s notice is valid from 7 to 11 November. It covers an underwater survey in the south-eastern Cretan Sea, within Greece’s EEZ and continental shelf, for the same vessel and cable.
What the notices cover
A navtex is a maritime safety message broadcast to shipping. The two notices mark the areas where the survey vessel will be working. They do not set out the cable’s full route, its landing points or a construction timetable.
An exclusive economic zone is the sea area beyond the territorial sea in which a coastal state has rights to explore and use marine resources. The eastern Mediterranean is a route for subsea internet and data cables between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The East to Med Corridor is described as a subsea and land-based telecommunications and data transmission cable system connecting Asia with Europe through Saudi Arabia and Greece.
The notices concern a fibre-optic cable. They are separate from the Great Sea Interconnector, the electricity cable planned to link the grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel.
What is not known
The reports did not say where the cable would land, how much the project would cost or when it would be completed.
They also did not say why the Cyprus notice, which took effect on 2 November, was made public on Friday, or whether survey work had already begun before then.
The Cyprus notice gives a two-week window for the work. The Greek notice gives five days. Both name the same vessel.
Sources (2)
- Cyprus News Agency report, via StockWatch, 6 November 2026 . Gives the dates of both notices, the vessel and the description of the East to Med Corridor.
- Cyprus Mail, Cyprus, Greece issue navtex for EEZ fibre optics, 6 November 2026 . Reports the Cyprus notice and its two-week window, and the Greek notice for the south-eastern Cretan Sea.