News / Police probe role of Yangpu Newnew box ship in gas pipeline damage

The Newnew Polar Bear Photo: VesselFinder

Finnish police said on Friday they were investigating the containership Newnew Polar Bear, as it may have been involved in damaging a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

The damage to the pipeline was discovered on 8 October, the same day, a telecoms cable linking Finland to Estonia was also damaged.

Since July, the China-based, Russia-focused line operator Yangpu Newnew Shipping has assigned the 1,638 teu Newnew Polar Bear to the Northern Sea Route (NSR), with calls at St Petersburg, Qingdao, Tianjin and Shanghai.

Finnish police said: “The police have established in the criminal investigation that the movements of the vessel Newnew Polar Bear, flying the flag of Hong Kong, coincide with the time and place of the gas pipeline damage.

“For this reason, the investigation is now focused on the role of the said vessel. We will cooperate with Chinese authorities in order to establish the role of the said vessel.”

Vessel-tracking data shows the ship left St Petersburg on 10 October and is now in Russian waters, expected to arrive in Tianjin on 16 November.

General head of investigation Det Supt Risto Lohi said the police investigations concluded that the damage was caused by an “external mechanical force” and, based on current knowledge, there was no reason to believe there had been an explosion.

And given Finland’s proximity to Russia, there are concerns that the damage could be Russian acts of sabotage.

Supt Lohi said a recently formed huge clump of soil containing what seemed to be a heavy object had been found on the seabed. The authorities will attempt to retrieve the object to see if it is connected to the damage of the pipeline.

Yangpu Newnew launched container shipping services between Russia, China and South Korea early this year, and has so far, bought 12 ships, with individual capacities ranging from 1,638 to 4,363 teu. The company’s latest purchase was the 2007-built 4,363 teu Newnew Panda 1, which was bought from Norwegian financial group Pareto for $20.8m in August.

In August, after Newnew Polar Bear made a successful pilot run through the NSR, Yangpu Newnew expanded capacity on the route, adding three more vessels, the 1,220 teu Xin Xin Hai 1, 2,741 teu Xin Xin Tian 1 and 3,534 teu Newnew Star. The latter vessel was purchased in March and joined Yangpu Newnew’s fleet in September.

Established in November 2021, Yangpu Newnew is owned by Hainan Fute Trading (50%), Huatong Automobile Investment (20%), Haikou Liang’en Multimodal Transport (15%) and Shanghai Torgmoll Supply China Management (15%). Hainan Fute was incorporated in June 2021 and is owned by Zhang Chuanrong (97%) and Wang Peng (3%), who is also Yangpu Newnew’s general manager.

The Loadstar’s attempts to contact Yangpu Newnew for comment were unsuccessful.