A first device receives a first container frame having a payload of a first length. The payload of the container frame includes multiple optical transport unit (OTU) frames, each of which includes an optical data unit (ODU) frame and a sequence of forward error correction (FEC) bits for the ODU frame. Each OTU frame is associated with a first sequence of error-identifying bits. The first device determines, for each OTU frame, a second sequence of error-identifying bits, and forms a second container frame including the OTU frames, the first sequences of error-identifying bits, and the second sequences of error-identifying bits. The first device transmits the second container frame to a second device.