Finland says oil tanker linked to subsea cable damage has serious deficiencies

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s public transport agency said on Wednesday that an oil tanker suspected of damaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea has been found to have serious deficiencies and will not be allowed to operate until repairs have been made.

Baltic Sea nations are on high alert following a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The NATO military alliance has said it will boost its presence in the region.

Finnish police seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on Dec. 26 and said they suspected that the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.

While the police investigation is ongoing, Finnish authorities also checked the vessel’s condition in a port state inspection that was concluded on Wednesday.

“Correcting the deficiencies will require repair assistance from outside the vessel and will take time,” Director of Maritime Affairs Sanna Sonninen at Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom said in a statement.

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, editing by Terje Solsvik)