Ports | The port of Kemi took the ships of a Chinese shipping company for special inspection – The reason is political, says the CEO

Chemistry the Chinese shipping company Cosco Shipping, which handles sea transportation for the new pulp mill in Kemi, has been placed under special surveillance in the port.

Cosco Shipping’s ships have handled Metsä Group’s pulp mill transports through the port of Kemi since November last year. Since then, the shipping company’s ships have been in the port under stronger supervision than other ships, says the CEO of the port of Kemi Markku Rautio.

The reason is political, says Rautio.

“The Chinese state and the Russian state engage in intelligence activities. That’s honestly the reason [erityistarkkailulle]”, Rautio says.

There have not been any extraordinary events or events referring to intelligence activities at the port, but rather it is a matter of the port company’s own risk management, which Rautio has decided on.

The Chinese shipping company was previously under special scrutiny Over.

Rautio says that he has been in contact with the protection police (Supo) about the Chinese shipping company and the decision to place it under closer supervision. However, the authorities have not given the port any instructions on the matter, he says.

In the port, the movement of the crew of Cosco ships in the port area is controlled in particular.

“That is, if the ship arrives at one pier, they have no business going to other piers, warehouses, the port office or anywhere in the telecommunications space. They have critical infrastructure that must be protected,” says Rautio.

Typically, Cosco’s larger ships come to the port of Kemi once a month and it takes about a week to load them.

“One week once a month, we always have stricter monitoring going on,” says Rautio.

Normally, the port is guarded with surveillance cameras and roving guards. Rautio does not say how stricter supervision differs from this.

According to Rautio, Cosco ships also visit the ports of Vuosaari and Kotka in Finland. He does not know if the operators of these ports have similar policies.

Helsinki port freight business manager Vesa Marttinen is picked up at all ports around the world the ISPS code of the international maritime organization IMO.

“The ISPS regulations already limit the free movement of the crews of all ships in ports in the port areas,” he says.

The ISPS Code was created in the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

The code is international, and it was immediately included in Finnish national legislation as well. The purpose of the code is to prevent terrorist acts against both ports and shipping companies.

Marttinen says that based on the ISPS regulations, neither Cosco Shipping nor other shipping companies’ ship crews should have anything to do with port areas.

“I don’t know how the port of Kemi operates in relation to the ISPS regulations. However, the crew of any ship cannot move freely in the ports of Helsinki.”

Ports of Finland deputy director of the association Kirsti Tarnanen-Sariola says that the international maritime ISPS regulation operates on three security levels.

“The first level is always valid. It requires the ports to constantly monitor what is happening in the ports. For example, camera surveillance and access control are used as help.”

Based on information from the authorities, the police can decide to raise the level if they are aware of a threat. However, the threat does not have to be fully identified at this point.

At the same time, the police can determine whether all Finnish ports will move to the second level or whether the level will be increased in only one port.

However, according to Tarnanen-Sariola, the port itself can also determine the need to raise the security level procedures. He assumes that the port of Kemi has probably decided to raise the security level procedures on its own accord.

“When the port decides on its own initiative to increase the security level, there are fewer measures for the port’s entire ship traffic,” says Tarnanen-Sariola.

“If the authority raises the level, then every ship must report at the next ten ports that it has visited a port with a higher security level. The authority’s decision therefore causes significantly more additional measures for ships than the port’s voluntary decision.”

ISPS-the third security level defined by the regulations can only be advanced under the guidance of the authorities.

“The port can no longer decide on the transition to the third level by itself. In that case, the threat to the port and shipping companies must already be identifiable,” says Tarnanen-Sariola.

HS also asked Supo to comment on the decision of the port of Kemi to take Cosco Shipping under special supervision. However, Supo does not publicly comment on individual companies.

“We are constantly in discussion with various operators related to critical infrastructure, such as ports. However, private operators are responsible for their own security arrangements,” Supo’s communications expert Irene Zidane wrote to HS in his e-mail message.