China admits responsibility for last year’s European pipeline destruction

Chinese authorities have stated that Newnew Shipping’s container ship Newnew Polar Bear was responsible, albeit by accident, for damaging the Balticconnector subsea gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland last year.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post, Chinese authorities have conducted an internal investigation and forwarded the results to the two European countries. In it, they claimed that the accident was caused by a strong storm.

A joint criminal investigation into the 1,638 teu Newnew Polar Bear is still being conducted by authorities of both Finland and Estonia.

The Chinese media outlet stated that the report was currently going through several ministries, but that type of report can’t be used as evidence in the investigation by the two countries. Finland and Estonia have requested information on the ship from China but Beijing has stayed silent on the matter apart from the report.

The Balticconnector gas pipeline was damaged in early October last year in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Later that month, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation stated that the damage was caused by an external mechanical force and that they had found a heavy object near the damaged pipeline.

It turned out that the mentioned heavy object was an anchor from the Hong Kong-registered vessel and the Finnish authorities found that the same type of paint was identified on the anchor as on the Balticconnector and that it was most probably from the Newnew Polar Bear.