Life on a ship installing submarine cables: this is David Costa, a new Denier pel món
"In the last year I have been to Ireland, Denmark, the United States, Mexico, Samoa, New Zealand and South Korea. In normal situations I have the possibility of visiting the cities where we arrived, but with the COVID-19 we cannot get off the ship even if we are in port ". This explains David Costa, a 34-year-old from Diane, how the coronavirus health crisis is living to aboard a cable ship.
Your workplace is not a specific site, but it changes very often. The ship he is currently on is assigned to the Southeast Asia area and moves between Korea, China or the Philippines. Right now David is working off the coast of Taiwan.
"Contrary to what everyone thinks, we don't dive to connect the cables."
According to Dénia.com, this shipment has been very complicated because of the coronavirus: "I got on board in South Korea at the end of May, but in order to enter the country the Korean government forced us to carry out a fortnight of quarantine for fifteen days in facilities that they provided themselves".
"Once they give you the hotel room there is no option to leave it, they leave your food three times a day at the door and once a day a doctor comes to take your temperature. The truth is that the fifteen days in a room hotels were pretty tough "David explains.
Right now they are in Taiwan, but neither the Taiwanese government allows them entry nor the company allows them to go ashore because of the risk that an infected person would entail for the entire crew.
Let's start at the beginning: David's origins
David Costa has lived all his life in Les Rotes, and studied at the IES Maria Ibars a FP in electricity. The company where he works gave him private training to be able to exercise his position: SUBCOM is dedicated to the installation and maintenance of submarine fiber optic cables throughout the world, making connections between countries. "One of the jobs I was part of was the installation of the MAREA system, which connects Bilbao and Virginia Beach, United States"David explains.
What exactly does your job consist of?
All work is carried out on board cable ships. "And no, we do not dive to take the cables or to make the connections. I am specifically part of the transmission department, and my tasks are to carry out both electrical and optical tests to verify that the fiber optic system works correctly"David says.
They normally carry out campaigns of maximum 60 days of shipment, sometimes they are shorter or sometimes they are longer because on the high seas they always depend on the weather. There are approximately 50 people on the ship, including captain, officers, sailors, engineers, technicians ... During operations, they work twenty-four hours, seven days a week: "We are operating in twelve-hour shifts, and during free time we go to the gym, we have rooms with screens and computers to watch movies or access the internet, and individual cabins. A ship like ours is 140 meters long and 21 meters long. sleeve".
Living far from Dénia
"After each work campaign I return home, so at the end of the year I usually spend six months on board and six months in Dénia. It is a job that I like and that makes me feel fulfilled, and I love visiting places that are different. I wouldn't see it. But I also miss my partner, my family and my friends a lot ", explains David, who closes the interview with the memories of Dénia.