Finnish authorities raised a ship anchor on Tuesday from the seafloor in the area where an underwater gas pipeline was damaged earlier this month, saying a Hong Kong-flagged vessel appears to have caused the incident.
The National Bureau of Investigation displayed pictures at a news conference of what it said was a 6-ton anchor that appears to be missing one of its arms, potentially belonging to the Hong Kong-flagged vessel “Newnew Polar Bear.”
An investigation is proceeding into whether the damage was intentional, officials told reporters in Vantaa, just outside of Helsinki.
Read more ....
Update #1: Finland Says Gas Pipeline Likely Broken by Ship Dragging Anchor (Reuters)
Update #2: Finland Finds Anchor That Likely Damaged Gas Pipeline (AFP)
WNU Editor: Sweden is making a different claim on one of its damaged cables .... The damage to a Baltic undersea cable was ‘purposeful,’ Swedish leader says but gives no details (AP).
"Finland says Hong Kong-flagged ship’s anchor breached underwater pipeline"
ReplyDeleteCould be true.
An intel agency could make it look like an accident.
Do nautical charts show there is an approved anchorage there. That is one of the first things I want to know. An industry pub would likely have the best discussion.
Accident or not, is the carrier insured?
The location is in the middle of the Sea ("channel"). Seems like it would be an odd choice for an anchorage, if indeed one exists there. I doubt it. That has to be a shipping lane. I'd investigate the captain, chief mate, 1st through 3rd mates to include their associations, bank accounts, etc. See who was in watch. that would mean you only need to examine 3 people. captain chief mate and the watch standing officer.
ReplyDeleteShip did not stop on its way to St Petersburg. So it does not look like it was anchoring off some port for the night prior to getting a berth to offload.
ReplyDeleteSo ship was merely sailing when the anchor dropped due to a mechanical malfunction?
I would sanction the Chinese company at the very least if they do not cooperate with an inquiry. By the time they cooperate they will have erased evidence to avoid the courts.
1) Irritant
ReplyDelete"Balticconnector’s operators have said it will take at least five months to repair the pipeline and it is unlikely to come on stream again until April 2024 at the earliest. Finland relies on gas for about 5% of its energy supplies."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/24/finland-recovers-ships-anchor-close-to-damaged-baltic-sea-pipeline
2) Hybrid warfare for not a great effect. It tipped China's hand.
3) To drag the anchor the ship had to be moving. Captain Obvious.
What is not obvious to me us ho much the chain would mess up the paint job or gouge the hull if it was moving at a good clipped as opposed to merely innocently dragging its anchor while at anchor. Not sure if you can tell the difference.
Depending on how often there are returns on ship tracking you could see if the ship slowed down in the vicinity of the anchor. That would be damning proof.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-16.1/centery:43.4/zoom:4
Readers of daily newspapers and magazines might not know, but the intel agencies will unless they are still huckstering pee tapes.
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/crude-oil-production
ReplyDeleteBut the question remains unanswered. Why? Why would the Chinese do this?
ReplyDeleteIt is not that big of a supplier. Not like Nord stream before the west had it destroyed.
Why because you can knock leg out from under Estonia or Finland. It is a 5% leg, but it is a leg nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteIt is all done before a formal declaration of war and it has plausible deniability.
If later say 10% of Finnish or Estonian energy gets knock out, the 5% which was minor before will take on greater significance.
Deniability
1) It is a civilian crew.
2) What weapon of war. it is an anchor not a gun.
3) Shucks darn it was an accident.
I think if they can determine vessel speed with or without cooperation it will go a long way to determining culpability.
a vessel on the open sea is hazard unto itself if it is not making way depending on sea condition, it could found having not hit anything.
A vessel going toto slow is dangerous to other vessels just like a car going under 45mph on an interstate is.
How long are the drag marks? Maybe through GPs or sonar(?) the Chinese ship crew knew exactly where the line was and the drag marks are not that long. If they can stop the vessel and inspects it hull they might find this commercial vessel is special.
In the CCP successfully people are dual hatted they are also reserve mio8itary without the two weeks training every year, It often happens with logistics specialist. the captain of the ship is probably military as well.