Finland authorities received radio contact with a Chinese cargo ship suspected of being connected to the rupture of the Balticconnector gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland. According to the perception in the media earlier, the ship would not have responded to the authorities’ calls.
However, Newnew Polar Bear answered the radio messages sent to it and tried to call the Finnish Coast Guard itself. The conversation took place three days after the pipe broke.
The information is revealed in the audio recording containing the radio traffic of Newnew Polar Bear. Helsingin Sanomat requested the recording with an information request from Finntraffic, which is responsible for directing maritime traffic in the Gulf of Finland.
The Central Criminal Police (krp) said at a press conference last week that Newnew Polar Bear was targeted when it returned from St. Petersburg to the west, but the attempts “did not lead to the desired result”. According to the KRP, the vessel reacted to contact attempts “reluctantly”. In the media news, the comments were interpreted to mean that Newnew Polar Bear could not be contacted.
Gas pipe broke on the night between October 7 and 8. The recording comes from the evening of October 11. Newnew Polar Bear was in the Gulf of Finland on the way back west from St. Petersburg and had just passed Helsinki.
At that time, the Central Criminal Police already suspected Newnew Polar Bear of breaking the gas pipe either intentionally or accidentally.
The radio discussion started at 20:30. In total, there is only a few minutes of radio traffic.
At first, the Marine Rescue Center under the Coast Guard called Newnew Polar Bear in English. The Coast Guard is a unit of the Border Guard that monitors the sea areas.
The Coast Guard called, “Newnew Polar Bear. Victor Romeo Victor Quebec Four. This is Helsinki Sea Rescue, channel one six.”
As usual, the message first mentioned the invitee and then the invitees. The call also used the ship’s call sign VRVQ4, which was found in radio alphabets.
There was no immediate response from the ship. The Coast Guard repeated the call.
After this, the recording follows the conversation of the neighboring ship with Newnew Polar Bear. Its subject is keeping a sufficient safety distance in bad weather.
After a conversation between these ships, the Coast Guard called the Newnew Polar Bear again. This time the ship answered.
Coastguard: “Did you read the message we sent you?”
Vessel: “[Epäselvää]… I read the message.”
Coastguard: “And can you call us on the phone? Do you have a number?”
Vessel: “[Epäselvää] name again?”
Coastguard: “This is the Finnish Coast Guard, the Helsinki Sea Rescue Center.”
Vessel: “Excuse me, who is speaking?”
Coastguard:“This is the Helsinki Sea Rescue Center, the Finnish Coast Guard.”
Vessel: “Alright. Coast Guard… I read the message.”
You can listen to the first part of the conversation here:
The it is not known whether the recording features the captain of the Newnew Polar Bear or a crew member. It is also impossible to determine with certainty where the speaker is from. You can hear a Chinese accent in the person’s speech. HS’s Russian-speaking assistant estimates that the accent might also be Russian.
Newnew Polar Bear is a Chinese shipping company sailing under the flag of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a special administrative region belonging to China.
The next time the VHF channel cracked was at 20:48. At that time, about six minutes had passed since Bear’s representative from Newnew Polar had promised to read the message from the Coast Guard. Now the Chinese ship called the Finnish Coast Guard itself, twice.
The Coast Guard did not respond. The Chinese ship called again twice more.
The Coast Guard still didn’t respond.
That’s when another Finnish entity, the maritime traffic control center Helsinki Traffic, entered the channel. It asked Newnew Polar Bear to contact the Coast Guard on channel 16.
Newnew Polar Bear responded to the message immediately: “But I call, no answer.”
Helsinki Traffic: “Stay on channel one six, and I’ll call the Coast Guard on the phone. They will call you soon.”
Vessel: “Thank you, sir.”
Helsinki Traffic: “Thank you.”
You can listen to the discussion here:
Last The discussion of the recordings handed over to HS between the Finnish authorities and Newnew Polar Bear started at 20:50. The Coast Guard called the ship again, and the ship immediately responds.
Coastguard: “Yes, hey, can we get channel one four.”
Vessel: “Channel One Four… [vaimenee].”
You can listen to the discussion here:
In the last radio messages, the Coast Guard therefore asked to move the conversation from the open channel to channel 14.
There is no information about the content of the conversation that may have continued on this channel. The recording received by HS only includes the conversation on open channels 16 and 60.
The recording acquired by HS includes radio communication between the ship and the authorities for a period of five hours. It is possible that the conversation took place outside this time window as well.
The Border Guard’s picture of the damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline.
About radio messages it therefore appears that Newnew Polar Bear did not completely avoid the Finnish authorities after the damage to the gas pipeline.
However, the Central Criminal Police would have wanted more from the ship. It would have liked to speak thoroughly to the ship’s captain and crew.
The Finnish authorities had no right to stop the Newnew Polar Bear by coercive means, because the ship was not traveling in Finnish territorial waters. The ship was only in Finland’s economic zone or international sea area.
At a press conference on October 24, the crime commissioner, general director of the investigation Risto Lohi described the events as follows:
“The ship was reached using the available communication channels, which were known to the ship. And shall we say that the reasons why the ship could not deviate from its course varied as this investigation progressed. That is, it seemed awkward from our point of view, and it was a voluntary interview, so in this respect the ship continued its journey.”
Police photo of the ship’s anchor found near the Balticconnector gas pipeline.
Newnew Polar Bear continued its journey in the Baltic Sea to the Russian port of Kaliningrad. From there, the ship continued up the coast of Norway to the Kola peninsula to the port of Arkangel.
The latest sighting of the Newnew Polar Bear from open data sources is from this week in the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, on the route of the Northeast Passage. The ship has announced its destination as the large port city of Tianjin in China.
The map animation shows the ship’s journey:
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