China Invites to Inspection of Yi Peng 3

The Chinese cargo vessel suspected of involvement in alleged sabotage against underwater cables in the Baltic Sea has been examined by local authorities.

Yesterday, Chinese inspectors were ferried out to examine the Li Peng 3 bulk carrier. After negotiations in Copenhagen, China allowed other interested parties to witness the visit of the Chinese representatives to the vessel. Along with the Chinese, came Swedish, Finnish and German inspectors and the Danish hosts. Not to inspect, no. They were invented to attend without any say over proceedings, just as witnesses.

See more about the case in the previous post:

The inspection team arriving at Yi Peng 3 on Thursday morning. Still from SVT by Danish public service DR.

The WSJ wrote about a rumor that says perhaps the captain of the Chinese ship was bribed by someone to rip the cables.

Foreign media only talk about the incidents in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and the Baltics, but Danish media have published investigations that indicate that Li Peng 3 also attempted to damage or cut two power cables on its way into the Baltic Sea. Two power cables between Denmark and Sweden on the route down towards the southern Baltic Sea inlet caught the interest of the TV2 news channel, because of the ship’s conspicuous behavior when passing hem.

TV2 then sent a diving ship for investigation and with a robotic camera they discovered at least two distinct, long rips in the sea bed, perpendicular to the cables and consistent with the route waypoints that are recorded for the time and position of the vessel. It slowed down during the passage and two different experts that have examined the underwater footage agree that the tracks are consistent with the conspicuous behavior of the vessel.

We note that the two cables in this case are not as vulnerable as the ones damaged om the other side of Sweden. Those in Sweden are fiber optical communications cables and not dug in to the seabed, They simply lie exposed. This is quite common practice because it is expensive top dig a trench or flush the cables into the bottom.

The Danish cables on the other hand are much more sturdy, thicker and well protected electricity power cables. Again, power cables often lie just on top of the sea bottom at least in open waters, mostly for costs reasons. But these have been dug into the sea bed for better protections. It seems that they are unharmed but further investigations will be made. Power still goes and no irregularities have been detected in the flow of energy in this case.

The investigative team that were allowed on board the Yi Peng 3 Thursday morning comprised Danish, Swedish, Finnish and German police and maritime agents. Per agreement with Chinese authorities, negotiated at the foreign ministry in Copenhagen, they were not allowed to do investigative work. The vessel is deliberately anchored just outside the Danish territorial waters, so the ship is legally under Chinese jurisdiction and the international laws of the seas.

The ship was shadowed by the Danish navy and had a Danish pilot on board when it decided to anchor in the spot where it still lies. The location was most likely chosen under guidance of the Danish authorities, because these waters are busy with traffic in and out of narrow and bendy shipping channels.

The Swedish public service channel SVT quoted the head of the Swedish inspection team for saying that

- I believe that we will get a clearer idea of ​​what has happened, says Jonas Bäckstrand, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board.

A composite delegation of authorities from China, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark boarded the ship Yi Peng 3 in the Kattegat on Thursday. Kattegat is the sea between Denmark and Sweden, funneling into the Danish straits leading further on into the Baltic Sea. It is practically the only way larger ships can enter the Baltic Sea and thus the Russian ports. The only other options are rivers and the Kiel Canal through Germany, both options are only for suitable vessels and the latter impossible for Russian ships.

Since the ship is located in international waters between Sweden and Denmark, the investigation was led by China, which invited the other countries to attend. The Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board is nevertheless satisfied with what they were able to do.

After completing the examinations on board the ship, the Swedish public service channel SVT summarized the results, saying important observations were made, though not naming the specifics.

“We have been able to talk to the crew members and carry out the technical examinations we requested. So it has been a relatively open working climate in the sense that we have been given access to the information that we have asked to have access to,” says Jonas Bäckstrand, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board.

He was one of those who participated in the visit from the Swedish side. He describes how they split up in order to have time to examine as much as possible during the time they had on board.

However, they could not examine the anchor itself in more detail because it hangs on the outside of the ship. However, other anchoring equipment, such as the chain, has been examined.

– Of course, we have observations from what will be significant, but unfortunately I cannot go into the details, says Jonas Bäckstrand.

Since one of the damaged cables runs between Sweden and Lithuania, and the cable breaks occurred in what is known as the Swedish economic zone, the Swedish police are conducting a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage.

Increasing attention on Russian activity

China is willing to work with relevant countries to find out the truth. At present, China and Sweden maintain close communication on this issue, says Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry. At present, China and Sweden maintain close communication on this issue, she added, according to a report in Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard welcomes the announcement. “It is positive that China wants to cooperate. It is important to clarify what happened. We have an ongoing dialogue,” she writes to TT.

The incident is being investigated as suspected sabotage.

The Wall Street Journal brings forward an unconfirmed hypothesis that the Chinese captain of Yi Peng 3 was somehow bribed or induced to carry out the sabotage and attempted sabotage. That would be consistent with some oddities of the case: That the ship stopped ‘voluntarily’ when being shadowed by the Danish Navy, and there were no protests from Chinese authorities in that regard, and the Chinese agreed to an examination on board the ship, in international waters.

At the same time, the maritime business news media Maritime Denmark describes that Denmark and other countries are implementing mandatory controls of insurance documents of cargo ships passing the exclusive economic interest zone of theirs. It amounts to a concerted effort to implement better surveillance of the Russian ‘shadow fleet’ of older cargo and oil vessels that circumvent the restrictions imposed on Russian exports, especially oil and gas. In the exclusive economic zone, it is possible to impose this type of controls if there is a risk of pollution and damage to the environment in case of shipwreck or other failure of the ship.

In addition to Denmark, the Baltic and Nordic countries will also introduce the new practice together with UK and Poland. They will collaborate on a register of ships that do not cooperate and may be included in future decisions on sanctions.

See previous post on ghost ships: