Chinese ship becomes focus of inquiry into Baltic pipeline damage

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up to the Geopolitics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.

A Chinese container ship is at the centre of a Finnish investigation into the potential sabotage of a gas pipeline and data cable between the Nordic country and Estonia.

Finnish police said on Friday evening it was focusing on Newnew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-registered container ship, as its movements coincided with the time and place of the damage.

A Russian ship, Sevmorput, operated by the state nuclear-powered icebreaker company Atomflot, was also in the area at the time.

Estonian investigators have said they are looking at both ships. Finland did not elaborate why they were focusing only on the Chinese vessel.

Officials from both countries have said that the damage to the pipeline and cable, which occurred two weeks ago in the Gulf of Finland, was man-made but have not yet established if it was deliberate or accidental. Sweden later confirmed that a separate undersea data cable connecting it to Estonia was also damaged around the same time.

“We will co-operate with Chinese authorities in order to establish the role of the said vessel,” said Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi, who is leading the Finnish investigation. He added that police have a liaison officer in China who can handle the matter on site.

Finnish police said they had found what appeared to be “an extremely heavy object” near the scene during an inspection on Thursday and would now try to recover it.

“The investigation has confirmed that the damage has been caused by an external mechanical force, and based on current knowledge there is no reason to believe the damage has been caused by an explosion,” Lohi said.

The potential sabotage of undersea infrastructure has led Nato to increase its patrols in the Baltic Sea with additional flights by drones as well as surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. The military alliance also sent four minesweepers to the area.

Latvian president Edgars Rinkēvičs went so far as to suggest on Friday that if Russia should be proven to be behind the potential sabotage then Nato should close the Baltic Sea to Russian shipping. He did not provide details of how this could be achieved and Latvia’s government said it had not discussed the matter and it was purely the president’s initiative.

Finland’s foreign ministry said it had reached out to China diplomatically to try to get in touch with the Newnew Polar Bear. Vessel tracking showed the Norwegian coast guard following both the Chinese and Russian vessels before they entered the Arctic.

Sevmorput is used by Russia to boost transport on the Northern Sea Route, a quicker maritime passage between the Russian Arctic and Asia but which has traditionally needed icebreakers.

The number of vessels using the Arctic route between Russian and Chinese ports has increased substantially this year to 35 by the end of October versus 21 for all of last year, according to data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence. An increasing number of the craft making the voyage are not ice-reinforced ships, leading to worries from experts and environmentalists about safety concerns in the remote far north.

Atomflot has called speculation that its vessel could have been involved in the damage “groundless”. Newnew Shipping did not immediately respond to a request for comment.