The freighter “Yi Peng 3” has stopped and the Danish Navy is in the immediate vicinity. The ship is suspected of having damaged internet cables in the Baltic Sea.
For many hours, various Danish Navy ships followed the Chinese freighter “Yi Peng 3” through the Great Belt between Funen and Zealand. Now a patrol boat has apparently stranded the 225-meter-long ship north of Zealand.
The ship is suspected of being responsible for damaging internet cables in the Baltic Sea. It had set off from Ust-Luga in Russia a few days ago and had specified the Egyptian Port Said as its destination port.
German authorities are in contact with Danish, Swedish and Finnish authorities, but did not want to comment on the alleged role of the “Yi Peng 3” when asked by t-online. The Federal Ministry of Defense assumes sabotage. The Federal Ministry of the Interior referred to the investigations in Finland and Sweden.
As early as Tuesday morning, experts who monitor the Baltic Sea region based on publicly available data pointed out the possible role of the “Yi Peng 3” in the alleged sabotage on the Internet short message service Bluesky. As early as October 2023, when the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was damaged, they correctly identified the Chinese freighter “Newnew Polar Bear” as the culprit.
Now the users “Gary Gnutter”, “Pekka Lund” and “auonsson” have come to the conclusion that the “Yi Peng 3” was at the time when the damage to the C-Lion1 and BCS East-West Interlink internet cables occurred on Sunday and Monday, the cables were run over in the places in question. In each case, the ship lost speed and made noticeable changes in course.
Both linked the accounts to the alleged sabotage. The same phenomenon had already been observed in the case of the “Newnew Polar Bear” last year. This was probably due to the fact that the ship’s intentionally dropped anchor encountered the physical resistance of the pipeline.
The Estonian security researcher Erik Kannike pointed out in the short message service X that the Chinese owner Ningbo Yipeng Shipping had only acquired the ship this month.
“Yi Peng 3” comes to a standstill – and anchors
Apparently the authorities are now coming to a similar conclusion: “The Swedes are taking a close look at this Chinese ship,” the “Financial Times” quoted an unnamed source who is said to be familiar with the Swedish investigation on Tuesday evening. When asked by t-online, a spokesman for the Federal Police said that they were not involved with the ship.
On Tuesday evening, according to the public ship database “Vesselfinder”, the “Yi Peng 3” came to a standstill at around 8 p.m. north of the Danish island of Zealand. Shortly before 9 p.m. it was only moving in Danish waters at a speed of less than 1 knot. According to the data, it then stopped a few hundred meters in international waters, and “Vesselfinder” then showed its status as “anchored”.
The Danish Navy’s patrol boat “P525”, which had been shadowing the freighter for hours, was at some distance and now seemed to be slowly circling the “Yi Peng 3”. Another Danish Navy ship, the “HDMS Søløven”, had set course for the spot and arrived shortly after 11 p.m., where it dropped anchor. It is intended to support divers, for example when clearing mines or ammunition. The “P525” then left. The Danish Ministry of Defense has not yet responded to a request from t-online.
The “Newnew Polar Bear” was also accompanied by the NATO Navy last year until it left the Baltic Sea. At the time it was said that there was not enough evidence to carry out an inspection. Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen publicly assured on Tuesday that such a case would not happen again. The authorities in the Baltic Sea region are ready to stop the voyage of a suspicious ship if necessary.
Update, November 19, 2024, 11:32 p.m.: In a previous version of the article, security researcher Kannike continued that, according to Russian port data, a Russian citizen is still the captain of the “Yi Peng 3.” A journalist from “Stern” refuted this a little later based on the data. The man mentioned was the harbor pilot.
