“Its destination is unknown”: Sweden intercepts new ship suspected of belonging to Russian ghost fleet

An empty ship without insurance. Sweden announced on Sunday that it had boarded a ship off its southern coast, suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet. This expression refers to ships, often aging, in poor condition, without adequate insurance and with opaque ownership, which Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions.

“This boat, named “Jin Hui”, is suspected of sailing under a false flag. Questions arise regarding its ability to go to sea and its lack of insurance,” Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin wrote on X. The ship “Jin Hui” is on the sanctions list of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, he said.

Several ships from the Russian fleet already intercepted in Sweden

The boat was intercepted in Swedish territorial waters, off the southern town of Trelleborg around 2 p.m., Carl-Oskar Bohlin also said. In a statement, the Swedish Coast Guard clarified that this 182 m vessel was sailing under the Syrian flag, and was “probably” not carrying any cargo. “His destination is unknown,” they also said, indicating that a “preliminary investigation was underway regarding his inability to put to sea, (which is) a violation of the maritime code.”

On April 29, Sweden seized the “Caffa”, a Russian ghost fleet cargo ship suspected of carrying stolen Ukrainian wheat, which it had boarded in early March. The Swedish public prosecutor’s office specified that this seizure was made due to a request for “mutual legal assistance” from another country, without specifying which one.

On March 12, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded the flag of convenience tanker Sea Owl I in Swedish territorial waters off the coast of Trelleborg.