Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 (IMO 9224984) remains at anchor near to the Kattegat Strait – a month after the C-Lion 1 and BCS East-West Interlink cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged. Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal reported that Western intelligence services believe the vessel’s Chinese captain was “induced by Russian intelligence” to use the ship’s anchor to damage the cables.
Sweden has now scaled back direct observation of Yi Peng 3, but Danish and German patrol ships remain on standby nearby. The Yi Peng 3 is in international waters. Swedish officials confirmed that they had asked its crew to return the vessel to Swedish waters, but that these requests had not been successful.
The latest German Coast Guard patrol vessel at the site is the Neustadt.
US Assistant Secretary of Defence Christopher Maier told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet that “Russia understands that it cannot match the United States militarily after the setbacks in Ukraine and is looking for other ways to pressure and disrupt Western countries” – a line similar to that taken by the German foreign minister in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said last week that there was quite a high probability that the events were “malign activity”.
“We therefore expect to see more types of sabotage and other disruptive and subversive incidents” said Maier, whose position will have a new occupant from next January 20th.
Russia has dismissed the claims as absurd. But, while the NewNew Polar Bear (IMO 9313204) containership incident could credibly have been called an accident, the circumstances surrounding the Yi Peng 3 are different.
The vessel had operated in Asia between 2013 and 2024, without any visits to Russia, but then it began changing its operating pattern in March 2024. Several visits to Murmansk on the Barents Sea and Ust-Luga on the Baltic were recorded.
There are leaked claims that the Mercury corvette of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was conducting reconnaissance for the Yi Peng 3, transmitting classified information to the headquarters in Kaliningrad.
According to Equasis, the vessel also switched its P&I Insurance to the London P&I Club on November 13th, only a few days before the incident.
The German Coast Guard, after examining the broken C-Lion 1 cable with a SeaCat autonomous reconnaissance underwater vehicle, confirmed that the damage they observed was consistent with that caused by a dragged anchor, including a deep furrow on the seabed. The cable has since been repaired.
China is cooperating in the various pending investigations, but it has not intervened to allow the boarding of the vessel. The Yi Peng 3 must by now be running low on provisions, which would eventually require it to head into port or receive supplies. Danish and German officials have stated that they would follow the vessel if it were to depart its current location.
2001-built, China-flagged, 40,622 gt Yi Peng 3 is owned and managed by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Co Ltd of Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. ISM manager is Win Enterprise Shipmanagement of Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It is entered with London Club on behalf of Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Co.