Vessel tracking data revealed that a Norwegian Navy ship closely trailed a Chinese container ship, the NewNew Polar Bear, for approximately 15 hours along the western coast of Norway.
This surveillance occurred on October 16 and comes in the wake of an investigation into the Chinese vessel's involvement in damage to a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland. Finnish authorities are examining the NewNew Polar Bear, along with a Russian-flagged ship named the Sevmorput, and other vessels present in the area during the incident that occurred on October 8. The damage to the Baltic Sea pipeline is suspected to result from "outside activity" and may have been intentional.
The NewNew Polar Bear is a container ship that travels between Europe and China through the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic. On the mentioned day (October 16), it departed the Baltic Sea and entered the North Sea, proceeding northward along the Norwegian coast.
The Norwegian coast guard patrol vessel, KV Sortland, maintained a close watch on the NewNew Polar Bear, starting at 04:00 GMT off the southern tip of Norway and continuing until around 19:15 GMT when the Chinese vessel was approximately 70 km (43 miles) northwest of Bergen, based on data from Marine Traffic. This area encompasses a significant portion of Norway's gas pipelines, which are vital for its gas exports, as well as some key oil and gas platforms.
The KV Sortland maintained a distance of 1 nautical mile (about 1.8 km) from the NewNew Polar Bear throughout the 15-hour period. The Norwegian military's operational command center did not comment on the operation but emphasized the coast guard's role in safeguarding maritime activities in the region, including fisheries protection, search and rescue operations, and shipping activity monitoring.
Norway, a major gas supplier in Europe, is taking measures to safeguard its offshore oil and gas platforms and its extensive network of gas pipelines beneath the North Sea, spanning over 8,000 km (4,971 miles), following the Nord Stream sabotage. Oslo is closely monitoring the progress of the investigation into the Baltic Sea incident, while NewNew Shipping, the entity operating the NewNew Polar Bear, has declined to comment.
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