YI PENG3

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Latest news

Threat to critical infrastructure taken very seriously by Danish government

On the afternoon of Nov 20, on the sidelines of a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustam Umerow, the Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen commented on the possible sabotage incidents on submarine cables in the Baltic Sea. He said that the Danish government was taking the threat to critical infrastructure "very, very seriously and are investigating it carefully". He was coordinating closely with the other Nordic states on how to proceed. He confirmed that the Danish Navy had tracked the suspicious "Yi Peng 3" on its way through the Baltic Sea, but he did not want to comment on possible measures against the ship, which was stopped by Danish authorities on the evening of Nov 19 and remained anchored in the Kattegat. It is therefore still unclear what will happen next with the "Yi Peng 3", which is moored just inside Danish territorial waters off the East Jutland coast near Grenå, guarded by Danish military ships since the evening of Nov 20, including the patrol ships "Søløven" and "PNK 225", which had previously shadowed the "Yi Peng 3" on its way through the Baltic Sea together with other patrol ships and a Danish frigate. The damage to the two affected fiber optic cables occurred within less than 24 hours:. The Swedish-Lithuanian data cable was damaged around 50 kilometers from the Baltic Sea island of Gotland on Nov 18 at around 9 a.m., and the Finnish-German cable was damaged east of the island of Öland on Nov 18 at around 3 a.m., according to the operator Cinia. While the cause remained unclear, the operator and German defense minister assumed external influence. Sweden was investigating possible sabotage. Units of the Swedish Coast Guard and Navy have been on site at the damage points south of the island of Öland since Nvo 19. The submarine rescue ship "Belos", equipped with underwater technology, and the mine hunter "Ulvön" with underwater drones were on site. The Swedish Coast Guard patrol ship "Amfitrite" was currently coordinating the measures on site. Meanwhile, according to the Swedish authorities, the Finnish criminal police also began investigating the damage to the cables on Nov 20, concentrating on the damage to the C-Lion1 submarine cable, which runs between Helsinki and Rostock. The German federal police's ship "Bamberg" left its berth in Rostock on the afternoon of Nov 20 and set course for the eastern Baltic Sea. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Nvo 20 that the situation surrounding the freighter was not known. China has always fulfilled its duties as a flag state and requires Chinese ships to strictly adhere to the relevant laws, stressed spokesman Lin Jian in Beijing.

Ship suspected of damaging submarine cables anchored off Zeeland

On Nov 18 at around 8 p.m. UTC the 'Yi Peng 3' has dropped anchor in pos. 56° 25' N 011° 39' E, and the patrol boat "P525", of the Danish Navy, which had been shadowing the freighter for hours, circled in the immediate vicinity. Another Danish Navy ship, the "HDMS Søløven", had set course for the location and reached it shortly after 11 p.m., where it dropped anchor. It is intended to support divers, for example in clearing mines or ammunition. The "P525" then moved away, but returned to the two anchored ships in the morning, whereupon the "HDMS Søløven" set course south. The Danish patrol ship "HDMS Hvidbjørnen" also set course for the location during the night, but eventually switched off its position data. For many hours, various ships of the Danish Navy followed the Chinese freighte through the Great Belt between Funen and Zealand. Now a patrol boat has apparently detained the ship north of Zealand Itis suspected of being responsible for the damage to the internet cables in the alleged sabotage on the Bluesky Internet short message service. The "Yi Peng 3" had crossed the cables at the points in question during the time when the damage to the C-Lion1 and BCS East-West Interlink Internet cables occurred on Nov 17 and Nov 18. In each case, the ship lost speed and made conspicuous course changes. The ship had set off from the Ultramar Terminal in Ust-Luga, Russia, with a cargo of fertilizer, and stated that its destination was Port Said. The German authorities are in contact with Danish, Swedish and Finnish authorities. The German Federal Ministry of Defense assumes sabotage. The Federal Ministry of the Interior referred to the investigations in Finland and Sweden. The Chinese owner Ningbo Yipeng Shipping has only acquired the ship this month.

Cable damage being investigated

After damaging two submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, the "Yi Peng 3" stopped its voyage through the Baltic Sea and anchored in the sea area between Denmark and Sweden. A Danish pilot boarded the ship on Nov 19 at 07.53 a.m. UTC. The vessel is also being monitored by the Navy's patrol ship 'P535'. The Danish Navy's diving vessel HDMS 'Søløven' was close to the Chinese ship overnight before being relieved by the patrol vessel. However, the diving vessel is still in the area. The German federal police also sent a ship on the afternoon of Nov 20 to support the investigation into the damaged cables. The two submarine data cables affected are the C-Lion 1 data cable, which connects Finland with Germany and lands in Rostock, and the BCS-East-West Interlink data cable, which connects Lithuania with the Swedish island of Gotland. The ship movement data showed that the "Yi Peng 3" was apparently in the immediate vicinity of the places where the cables were destroyed. The ship passed the C-Lion cable on Nov 18 at 3:02 a.m. Two minutes later, at 3:04 a.m., the cable operator company Cinia noticed a defect, and a short time later a total failure. The "Yi Peng 3" was previously sailing near the destroyed East-West Interlink data cable. The AIS data show that the ship passed the cable east of Gotland on Nov 17 at around 9 a.m. A short time later, data traffic also failed here. No AIS data was transmitted by the Chinese ship between the two events between Nov 17 at 6.30 p.m. and Nov 18 at 1 a.m. over a sailing distance of 48.5 miles, so the ship apparently did not reveal its location. The ship also stood out due to unusual movement patterns during this period. On the one hand, it was traveling noticeably slowly in the area of ​​the underwater cables, and on the other hand, later that same day, it came to a complete standstill south of the Swedish city of Karlskrona (Lat. 55.6908 Lng. 15.8000). It only continued its voyage after about an hour. During the period in question, several other ships passed the data cables, including a Russian freighter. They are also currently being monitored by European security authorities. The German government assumes that the two data cables were deliberately damaged. On Nov 18, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already stated in a press release with several EU foreign ministers that they were "deeply concerned" about the incident. Europe's security is also threatened by hybrid warfare by malicious actors. The German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had stated in a joint press statement with his Finnish counterpart that no one assumed that "these cables were accidentally severed." As of November 20, 2024, neither the vessel nor the ISM manager Win Enterprises Ship Management as commercial manager, and the registered ownerNingbo Yipeng Shipping Co. Ltd. appeared on published sanction lists. However, historical trade data showed that the ship has transported Russian thermal coal and coal from Murmansk and Nakhodka on at least seven occasions. In 2022, it experienced two AIS signal gaps in China, each lasting over 20 hours.