The MarineTraffic service, which monitors ship traffic, shows that the Hong Kong-flagged container ship Xin Xin Tian 2 was at the EstLink 2 electricity cable in the Gulf of Finland on Christmas Day. The ship was in the vicinity of the cable at 12:26 p.m. The Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid announced that EstLink 2 was disconnected from the grid at 12.26 p.m. The power transmission of the connection was 650 MW when it was disconnected. Xin Xin Tian 2 left St. Petersburg on Christmas Eve and is on its way to Port Said, Egypt, according to MarineTraffic.

Fingrid is currently investigating where the connection has been interrupted. For the time being, it is not certain whether the connection has been lost on land or if something has happened to the submarine cable. It is also unknown whether the Xin Xin Tian 2 ship has anything to do with the electrical cable failure. "Nothing is ruled out, all the rocks and stumps are turned over and we see what causes it [the outage]. We also consider it [sabotage] to be an option," Arto Pahkin, Fingrid's control room manager, told Iltalehti earlier.

There have recently been other suspected cases of sabotage in the Baltic Sea linked to cargo ships flying the flags of China and Hong Kong. In November, the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 was suspected of cutting two critical communications cables in the Baltic Sea. In October last year, the cargo vessel Newnew Polar Bear, registered in Hong Kong, was linked to damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline.

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Fingrid provides new information on electricity cables – Fault likely in the sea

"The matter is still being verified in measurements, but most likely the fault lies on the submarine cable side. The location of the fault is still being specified.

"Based on the damage, an estimate is made of the duration of the repair work. It looks like it will take some time for the cable to be back in use, Pahkin comments.

German data center company Hetzner reported that there have also been problems with the connection between Helsinki and Frankfurt on Christmas Day. It is not clear whether the problems are related to the loss of the EstLink 2 power connection.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) told Zeit that there was even reason to start with the sabotage assumption.

NOTE: I'm still inexperienced at question creation, so there may be some discussion when we decide to resolve.

• Update 2024-26-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - Mutually Exclusive Options: While initially intended to be mutually exclusive, multiple causes may be combining.

  • Current Likelihood: Sabotage is currently the most likely cause.

• Update 2024-26-12 (PST): - Resolution Criteria Updated:

  • Originally, causes were mutually exclusive

  • Now, multiple causes may be combining (AI summary of creator comment)