Finnish authorities do not confirm information provided by Beijing that the Chinese container ship NewNew Polar Bear sailing under the Hong Kong flag damaged a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea “accidentally” in 2023. On Monday, the Hong Kong daily “South China Morning Post” reported, citing documents from Beijing authorities, that the container ship NewNew Polar Bear damaged the Balticonnector gas pipeline last autumn “accidentally”, and the incident occurred during a heavy storm at sea. The freighter, approximately 170 m long, was sailing from Königsberg to St. Petersburg at the time, as part of the so-called Chinese northern route.
In October last year, a Chinese ship damaged a key gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea that runs between Estonia and Finland. Beijing has ruled it an accident. The South China Morning Post has learned that Chinese authorities conducted an internal investigation and recently handed over the findings to European governments.
However, Finnish police do not confirm reports in Chinese media that the container ship NewNew Polar Bear sailing under the Hong Kong flag damaged the Balticonnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia “accidentally” in the fall of 2023. The investigation is still ongoing, commented the Finnish police, who have been investigating the case for 10 months.
Key Baltic Sea gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland damaged in 2023Finnish Border Guard
Finnish authorities do not confirm information about “accidental” damage to Balticconnector
According to the Criminal Police Office (KRP), the Finnish and Estonian services have exchanged collected materials, and cooperation with the Chinese authorities has not yet ended. The results of the investigation will be available in the autumn at the earliest, commented Commissioner Risto Lohi.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen confirmed to “Helsingin Sanomat” that there is “constant” cooperation with the Chinese side in this matter.
On Monday, the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post reported, citing documents from Beijing authorities, that the NewNew Polar Bear container ship damaged the Balticonnector gas pipeline last autumn “accidentally”, and that the incident occurred during a heavy storm at sea. The freighter, approximately 170 metres long, was sailing from Königsberg to St. Petersburg at the time, as part of the so-called Chinese northern route.
Damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline
The Finnish and Estonian services reported the gas pipeline failure, related to an unusually rapid drop in pressure, on October 8, 2023. At the same time, the submarine communication cable was damaged. According to the police findings and technical studies conducted so far, the pipeline was damaged by the impact of an anchor probably belonging to a Chinese freighter.
Near the site of the damage to the installation, an anchor weighing several tons and measuring 2.5 x 2 x 1 m was pulled out from under a thick layer of mud using naval equipment. Traces of ploughing remained on the bottom of the Bay for many kilometers.
Anchor recovered National Bureau of Investigation
The offshore section of the Balticconnector (77 km long in total) was repaired and reopened this spring.
Main image source: Finnish Border Guard