#estlink — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #estlink, aggregated by home.social.
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The oil tanker Eagle S has been released from custody, and the vessel has departed Finland. 3 members of the crew remain under a travel ban, and the investigation continues.
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The #EagleS shipping company tried to challenge the ship's impounding today but court upheld the action while investigation continues.
Three companies: the state owned Fingrid and Cinia, and the private Elisa, owners of #Estlink #CLion1 and one of the other telco fibers have filed for impoundment to cover cable repair costs (which will exceed the value of the ship and its gasoline cargo).
Eight crew members suspected are under travel restriction.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20134655 -
#Traficom boarded Eagle S to perform port state control (PSC) inspection. Courses of action Traficom may impose on a ship with deficiencies (in order of ascending gravity) are:
- Deficiencies can be rectified within 14 days for minor infractions.
- Under specific conditions, deficiencies can be rectified when the ship arrives at the next port.
- Deficiencies must be rectified before the ship can depart the port.
- Detention of the ship occurs. -
#Traficom boarded Eagle S to perform port state control (PSC) inspection. Courses of action Traficom may impose on a ship with deficiencies (in order of ascending gravity) are:
- Deficiencies can be rectified within 14 days for minor infractions.
- Under specific conditions, deficiencies can be rectified when the ship arrives at the next port.
- Deficiencies must be rectified before the ship can depart the port.
- Detention of the ship occurs. -
#Traficom boarded Eagle S to perform port state control (PSC) inspection. Courses of action Traficom may impose on a ship with deficiencies (in order of ascending gravity) are:
- Deficiencies can be rectified within 14 days for minor infractions.
- Under specific conditions, deficiencies can be rectified when the ship arrives at the next port.
- Deficiencies must be rectified before the ship can depart the port.
- Detention of the ship occurs. -
#Traficom boarded Eagle S to perform port state control (PSC) inspection. Courses of action Traficom may impose on a ship with deficiencies (in order of ascending gravity) are:
- Deficiencies can be rectified within 14 days for minor infractions.
- Under specific conditions, deficiencies can be rectified when the ship arrives at the next port.
- Deficiencies must be rectified before the ship can depart the port.
- Detention of the ship occurs. -
Finland is flying investigators to the Eagle S, and is interrogating the crew. The officials have confiscated the communications devices and storage media (cellphones, tablets, laptops, external storage devices I presume) and will perform #forensics on them. Several crew members are suspected of aggravated criminal mischief. If convicted the penalty ranges from 2 to 10 years imprisonment.
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Image released by the Finnish Police about the Eagle S boarding. Two helicopters were used, one Finnish Defence Forces and another Border Patrol (AS332-H215 Super Puma in the image). The helicopters were crewed by Police and Border Guard Special Intervention Units. The units were armed in case of resistance, but none was met.
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President Stubb in his press briefing:
The first time one year ago [#balticconnector #NewnewPolarBear] the ship was able to leave without being stopped. One month ago the second ship [#YiPeng3 #clion1] was stopped but not brought to national waters. This time [#Estlink #EagleS] Finnish authorities were able to assume control and begin a criminal investigation.
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It appears that Russia has figured out a secondary function for their grey fleet: Hybrid warfare.
They create a "shipping company" to some country outside of the sanctions. The company likely has only a single asset: the vessel itself. The vessels are very old and in poor condition and have no insurance. A crew is hired to operate the vessel.
Normally these vessel are used to circumvent the sanctions in place, for example to sell Russian oil.
As a recent new development it appears that these vessels are also used to perform hybrid operations that target undersea cables. Prime example is the Baltic sea that is relatively shallow, and the cable locations are well documented. There has been multiple recent incidents involving ships that "accidentally" drag their anchors and cause damage.
The operation likely also involves finding crew members willing to take a compensation for performing the malicious task of dragging the anchor on the seabed. This is made easier by the fact that the crew can claim ignorance or bad seamanship. The threat to these persons is very limited, as the Nordic countries have very lenient legal systems. It is unlikely that they would be incarcerated for a significant amount of time, even if found guilty of sabotage.
The payout vs the investment is significant. The damage caused by the disruption of the undersea #telecommunications and electricity cables likely far exceeds the value of the ship or the cargo combined. The involved ship can just ignore any requests to stop or allow for inspections, as long as they are in international waters.
Considering there is a really high barrier in disrupting international shipping, anyone willing to abuse the system can continue to do so until significant changes will be made.
#hybridwarfare #sanctions #underseacable #estlink2 #ESTLINK #clion1
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It appears that the cable has been cut deliberately. Finnish Border Guard ship Turva has stopped the tanker Eagle S suspected to be involved in the incident. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:712379/mmsi:518998865/imo:9329760/vessel:EAGLE_S
YLE news: https://yle.fi/a/74-20133516 (in english)
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#Estonia's #electricity transmission system operator #Elering has located the fault in the #EstLink 2 power connection with #Finland. Repairs will last until the end of August 2024.
https://viabaltica.fi/estonia-repairs-on-estlink-2-power-cable-to-last-until-august-2024/