Finnish court upholds detention of shadow fleet tanker that damaged cables – Bloomberg

Finland has been granted permission to continue detaining a tanker from the shadow fleet that damaged an energy cable and four communication cables in the Baltic Sea last week, a court ruled.

Source: Bloomberg

Details: The tanker Eagle S was detained by police on 28 December. Investigations of the seabed revealed multiple traces indicating the vessel had dragged its anchor during the incident.

This marks the third instance in just over a year where a ship’s anchor has caused damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

On Friday, 3 January, the Helsinki District Court rejected a petition from the shipping company Caravella LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates, to end the tanker's detention, according to an electronic response to inquiries.

The vessel, sailing under the Cook Islands flag, has been identified as part of the so-called shadow fleet transporting Russian petroleum products. It remains detained in a port in southern Finland and is under investigation for suspected serious crimes, including causing significant property damage and interfering with communication systems.

Background:

• Finnish authorities are investigating whether the Russian shadow fleet tanker Eagle S severed the power cable connecting Finland and Estonia.
• On 2 December, an undersea fiber-optic cable linking Finland to Sweden was damaged, causing widespread communication outages.
• On 18 November, Finland’s communication cable with Germany was severed, with an investigation into the cause ongoing.
• Finnish law enforcement officials, probing the damage to undersea power and information cables, discovered marks on the seabed likely left by the anchor of the detained tanker Eagle S.
• The repair of the electrical cable Estlink 2, damaged in the Baltic Sea on 25 December, is expected to be lengthy and costly.

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