Almost a year ago, Estonia and Finland were stunned by the news that the Balticconnector gas pipeline and two other Baltic telecommunications cables had ruptured. The rupture of the vital Baltic gas pipeline was believed to have been caused by the anchor of the Chinese ship Newnew Polar Bear.
This summer, China admitted that the Newnew Polar Bear accidentally damaged the Balticconnector gas pipeline.
Estonia's ETV program "Impulss" in cooperation with six EU stations established some new details about the incident.
At approximately 5:20 p.m. on October 7, 2023, the Chinese cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear, flying the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China), announced that it had entered the maritime area under Estonian jurisdiction.
Communication between the ship and the traffic control center in Tallinn was normal. Despite rough seas, with waves sometimes reaching 5 meters high, and the Newnew Polar Bear carrying 287 tons of dangerous goods, dispatchers noted nothing unusual.
However, 1 hour after reaching Estonian waters, the Newnew Polar Bear passed over the Swedish-Estonian telecommunications cable and, as it was later revealed, the ship's anchor damaged the cable.
Working with Swedish journalists from public broadcaster SVT, "Impulss" showed a never-before-aired photo of the telecommunications cable, at a point 52 km from Hiiumaa. The photo shows the telecommunications cable damaged or deformed, but not severed.
The anchor of the Newnew Polar Bear is located at the bow of the ship, slightly recessed into the hull. The system is designed in such a way that when the anchor is dropped, the entire chain, several hundred meters long, is released, along with the 6-ton anchor. The groove created by the anchor of the Newnew Polar Bear on the bottom of the Baltic Sea is 180 kilometers long, which means that the anchor has been dragged across the sea a distance equivalent to the distance from Tallinn to Tartu.
The 21-member crew continued their journey after the Arelion telecommunications cable was damaged. At dawn on October 8, seven hours after the first cable was damaged, the anchor of the Newnew Polar Bear hit the Balticconnector pipeline at a speed of 11 knots. The ship's speed then suddenly dropped to 6 knots. Therefore, it is very likely that this was the moment when the anchor ruptured the pipeline, "Impulss" noted.
"If you hit a pipe with such an anchor, the speed reduction would have created quite a loud noise throughout the entire hull. The speed reduction would have been momentary, but quite sudden," Estonian Navy Commander Juri Saska said on the show. Saska said the crew of the Newnew Polar Bear should have realized that the ship had hit something after being caught in the Balticconnector pipe.
By the time the Newnew Polar Bear moved out of Estonia’s area of responsibility on October 11, criminal cases had been opened in both Finland and Estonia. These two countries had also requested legal assistance from China.
According to Reuters, Finnish President Alexander Stubb will pay a state visit to China from October 28 to 31 to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior government officials. The news agency noted that Finland and China have had notable diplomatic activities since October last year when the Newnew Polar Bear ship severed the Balticconnector gas pipeline.
