A Chinese ship that was surrounded by European warships in international waters for a week is at the heart of an investigation into a cable break near the Nord Stream pipeline.
Investigators suspect the crew of the Yi Peng 3 deliberately severed two vital cables last week as the ship's anchor was dragged along the bottom of the Baltic Sea for more than 100 miles.
The Yi Peng 3, 225 meters long and 32 meters wide and loaded with Russian fertilizer, left the port of Ust-Luga in Russia's Baltic region on November 15.
The cable break near Nord Stream is the latest in a series of attacks on critical European infrastructure.
“It is highly unlikely that the captain did not notice that his ship was being dragged by anchor, affecting its speed for hours and cutting its cables along the way,” said a senior European investigator.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter said the Chinese owner of the ship, Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Company, is cooperating with the investigation and has allowed the ship to stop in international waters.
A cable break occurred in Swedish waters on November 17-18, forcing the country's authorities to open an investigation into the sabotage.
Investigators determined that the Yi Peng 3 dropped anchor while sailing in Swedish waters on November 17, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The Yi Peng 3’s anchor cut the first cable between Sweden and Lithuania that same day. The disconnection occurred at around 10 a.m. local time on November 17.
During that time, the ship's transponder, which charts the ship's movements on the Automatic Identification System (AIS), stopped working. The Yi Peng 3 then continued moving despite being slowed significantly by the anchor.
At around 3:00 a.m. on November 18, after traveling about 178 km, the Yi Peng 3 ship cut the second cable between Germany and Finland.
The Chinese ship then began circling, lifted its anchor, and continued on. Danish naval vessels pursued and intercepted the Yi Peng 3, forcing the Chinese ship to anchor in the Kattegat Strait, which connects the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
Informed sources revealed that an inspection of the anchor and hull determined damage due to anchor dragging and cable breakage.
According to analysis by Kpler, a company that analyzes real-time data on international shipping, “with mild weather conditions and manageable wave heights, the likelihood of accidentally dropping the anchor and towing away is very small.”
Last October, the Chinese ship Newnew Polar Bear cut the Balticconnector gas pipeline and telecommunications cable connecting Finland and Estonia with its anchor.
The Newnew Polar Bear was allowed to sail to the Russian Arctic because authorities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway were unwilling to stop the ship without proper legal support.
But with the Yi Peng 3, the Danish Navy decided to intervene quickly to stop the ship after the second cable was sabotaged, the source noted.
Benjamin L. Schmitt, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, said that Yi Peng 3 only operated in Chinese waters from December 2019 to early March 2024, when it suddenly changed its operating pattern.
The Chinese ship carried coal and other Russian goods, calling at Russian ports such as Nakhodka on the Sea of Japan, Murmansk on the Barents Sea and several trips to the Baltic Sea.
