MV Arctic Sea

Shelley Express ( since 2011 ) Jogaila (2000-2005) Torm Senegal (1998-2000) Alrai (1998) Zim Venezuela (1996-1998) Okhotskoe (until 1996 )

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping

IMO 8912792

The Arctic Sea is a small propelled under the Maltese flag cargo ship. She was known by to this day incomplete clarified events in the summer of 2009, during which the ship in the Baltic Sea was boarded by masked men then disappeared and was applied and released at the height of Cape Verde by the Russian Navy.

The ship

It was built in 1991 as Okhotskoe on the Sedef shipyard in Gebze / Istanbul. As owner of the company Arctic Sea Ltd.. registered in Malta. The ship management is performed by the Solchart Management AB in Helsinki, Finland, which is ISM management is in the hands of Solchart Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk, Russia. The Arctic Sea is mainly used for the transport of timber from Finland.

A diesel engine is used as drive with a power of 3360 kW, which acts on a variable pitch. The ship is equipped with two onboard cranes, each capable of lifting 25 tons. In addition to general cargo and bulk cargo the ship can load 224 standard containers.

The Arctic Sea was sold in March 2010 for 1.8 million euros to the Canadian company Great Lakes Feeder Lines and transported goods between the United States and Canada. End of October 2011, the company acquired Amber Express Cargo, which is represented by PMAC Marine from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, the ship and named it in November 2011 in Shelley to express.

The incidents in the summer of 2009

On July 22, 2009 00:30 UTC against the ship from the Finnish port Jakobstad / Pietarsaari ran out. It was loaded according to official figures with 6700 cubic meters of sawn wood of the Swedish-Finnish forestry company Stora Enso worth around 1.3 million euros for Bejaia in Algeria. In Bejaia the ship on August 2, should arrive at 12:00 UTC, but this did not happen. The circumstances of the disappearance led to speculation about the accuracy of cargo information.

Before driving direction Bejaia the ship was from 24 June for overhaul work in Kaliningrad and left the harbor on the night of 17th to 18th of July with target Jakobstad / Pietarsaari, where it arrived on July 20 at 11:00 UTC.

On 31 July it was announced that the ship in the early morning of July 24 between Öland and Gotland by eight masked men (some were even ten or up to twelve people reported ), posing as narcotics officers of the Swedish police, had been stopped by means of an inflatable boat and boarded. The existing 15-person Russian crew to have been captured and the ship subsequently searched. Various press releases, according to the men left the ship after a good twelve hours later, which then continued his journey.

On 28 July, reported the ship for the passage through the English Channel via radio with the British authorities in Dover. Last was received on 29 July at 19:06 UTC, the AIS signal of the vessel from a land station, as the Arctic Sea north drove the French coast at the height of Brest 7.7 knots WSW direction. As expected arrival for now Bejaia 4th of August was sent at 23:00 UTC, 2009. Since then, according to official data of the ship was no trace; conflicting messages about alleged sightings of the vessel ensured in the next few days for further confusion. The Russian Navy ordered four warships of the Black Sea fleet at three landing ships of the ropucha class and a frigate of the Kriwak class, to search for the Arctic Sea from which were also supported by two nuclear - powered submarines.

On August 15 it was reported the shipping company had received a ransom demand for the ship. On August 17, the Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced that the ship had been applied 480 kilometers away from the Cape Verde Islands by the Russian Navy, the crew had to be rescued, and the pirates were arrested without resistance. After the successful rescue operation, the Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin acknowledged that the authorities were aware of the whereabouts of the Arctic Sea for days. They had deliberately misled the public but in order not to jeopardize the military action to free the crew. At the rescue operation had with representatives from twenty countries.

In the following days, more inconsistencies have been reported in the official version in the media. Analyzes from several states came to the conclusion that the ship was too deep in the water, to carry a load of wood. There is suspicion was expressed that the wood supply was a cover for a weapons delivery. The speculation went so far that cruise missiles of the type AS -15 Kent and air defense missiles was spoken of type S -300. As a possible recipient Iran or the Palestinian organization Hamas were called.

The pirates were brought to Russia and charged ( military airfield Chkalovsky ). At least one of the defendants has now been sentenced. The majority of the crew was flown for interrogation by intelligence services and detained for two weeks with almost no outside contacts. The captain and the rest of the crew remained on the Arctic Sea, which was to be towed by the Russian Navy in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

It is suspected that the crew at least partially cooperated with the pirates. The suspected pirates even pretend to be conservationists from the Baltics. They were rescued by the Arctic Sea from distress, while traveling no opportunity had offered, to disembark the ship. Multiple Israeli intelligence was as ordering the kidnapping. Other sources to see the Russian secret service FSB as initiator. The suspected pirates are mostly Russians.

About three weeks after it was revealed that the should be towed Arctic Sea by the Russian Navy after Novorossiysk, was reported on the conclusion of the investigation, the inquiry committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office with the result that only timber have been found aboard. The ship will now be handed over to the Maltese authorities or owner of the ship and for calling at the port of Las Palmas Canary Islands. According to recent reports, the application was rejected on the ship stay in port for alleged weapons on board merchant vessel or missing status.

On 31 October the ship in Valletta Malta appeared again.