Sweden Urges Bulk Carrier to Enter Its Waters Amid Cable Dispute

Sweden is pressing for the Yi Peng 3, a 23-year-old panamax bulk carrier, to move into its territorial waters as a diplomatic standoff unfolds over a recent undersea cable disruption. The vessel, owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, has been linked to the severing of two data cables in the Baltic Sea earlier this month.

The ship has been anchored in international waters at the Kattegat Strait, located between Denmark and Sweden, for nearly a week. It remains under close watch by a German patrol boat, a Swedish Coast Guard vessel, and a Danish frigate.

“From the Swedish side we have had contact with the ship and contact with China and said that we want the ship to move towards Swedish waters,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated in a press briefing.

This incident comes just over a year after damage to a communication cable between Sweden and Estonia, as well as a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, was attributed to the NewNew Polar Bear, a containership under Chinese control.