The tanker, which carries Russian oil, has turned off the route in the Gulf of Finland and is in the Finnish territorial waters of the Baltic Sea. This happened after the most powerful of the two submarine power cables EastLink between Finland and Estonia could have had a break — it does not work. The tanker has a Finnish patrol ship, but so far the country's authorities have not reported where and for what reason the failure occurred. Perhaps the ship is under suspicion.
The Eagle S tanker, which carries up to 74 thousand tons of Russian oil, is in the territorial waters of Finland under the supervision of the patrol ship Turva. This is evidenced by the AIS data of the courts. The ship has been there since the evening of December 25. On that day, on the EastLink 2 marine power cable, which crosses the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia, there was a failure.
The vessel was heading from the port of Ust-Luga to the Suez Canal, a transit point to Asia. Eagle S left the Russian terminal on December 24, and around 12.00 local time it was in the area of the EastLink 2 power cable.
According to AIS of vessels, at 11.00 the tanker was traveling at a speed of 8.5 knots, but then, after 35 minutes, it slowed down to 6.3 knots, and then it stopped moving altogether. The ship transmitted the next signal already at 13.05, when it was traveling at a speed of 7.5 knots. The tanker passed the three-mile section in an hour and a half.
It is not known what the tanker's maneuvers are related to. However, after 35 miles from the suspension point, after 17.00, Eagle S left the route, began to maneuver and headed north — to the territorial waters of Finland, where it is still located. Less than five hundred meters from the tanker is the patrol ship Turva.
Obviously, the presence of the tanker in the territorial waters of Finland is connected with the investigation of a power cable malfunction. The operator of the Finnish power system reported that after noon on December 25, the EastLink 2 power cable stopped working.
"EstLink 2 power transmission line between Finland and Estonia was disconnected from the network after noon on Wednesday. The Finnish and Estonian operators of the Fingrid and Elering transmission systems immediately launched an investigation of the malfunction together with the authorities, and work will continue until the malfunction is detected," Fingrid reported.
According to the operator, a possible break in the 650 MW line did not affect the country's energy supply.
"There are connections for the transmission of electricity from Finland to Estonia, Sweden and Norway. EstLink 2 is a power transmission line between Finland and Estonia, its capacity is 650 MW. The total length of the power transmission line is 170 km, of which 145 km is an underwater cable, 14 km is an air cable on the Finnish side and 12 km is underground in Estonia," the operator explained.
The investigation was also announced by the police and the Finnish Border Guard Service. They told Finnish Yle that they were investigating the possible involvement of a foreign vessel. The manager of the Fingrid dispatch service, Arto Pakhkin, told the publication that there were two vessels in the cable area at the time of disconnection. One of them is Eagle S. The second is the container ship Xin Xin Tian 2, which goes from St. Petersburg to the Suez Canal and continues its journey.
At the same time, the Finnish authorities have not yet reported why the power cable stopped working and where the gap is located, if there was one.
The Eagle S tanker falls into the category of tankers, which are called the gray fleet, since it belongs to little-known owners. According to Equasis, since June 26, 2023, Caravella, registered in the UAE, is considered to be the owner and operator.
In October last year, a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland Balticconnector ruptured in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish authorities suspected that the gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea from Estonia damaged the container ship Newnew Polar Bear under the flag of Hong Kong. He was anchored in the area of the gas pipeline, and after the main line was damaged on October 8, an anchor was found in it, which may belong to the vessel. The South China Morning Post wrote that allegedly the Chinese authorities conducted an internal investigation and confirmed the ship's guilt.