The original plan was for a pilot from the Danish Danpilot to board the MV Ruby during the weekend and disembark when the vessel passed Gedser, on the southern tip of Falster.
However, that plan has been changed, reports Danish TV2. The Danish company Danpilot has not received any order for a pilot either.
Required to use pilotage
The Danish Maritime Authority continues to closely monitor the situation and has close cooperation with other authorities, the authority writes in an email to TT.
"MV Ruby is therefore still required to use tugboat assistance and pilotage in connection with the vessel's passage through Danish waters."
The shipping company has informed the Maritime Authority that they have asked MV Ruby to stay south of Norway instead of continuing towards Klaipeda in Lithuania as planned. This is while the possibility of unloading the cargo at a location with approved facilities is being explored.
"Therefore, the vessel is currently stationary," writes the Maritime Authority. Clarifications are expected in the beginning of next week.
The Swedish Coast Guard is following the development and has ongoing consultations with other authorities as well as Denmark and Norway.
Since the vessel is quite far from Sweden, we are not taking any operational measures at present, says Valdemar Lindekrantz, communicator at the Coast Guard.
Loaded in Russia
The cargo ship MV Ruby was loaded in a Russian port on the Kola Peninsula and, under unclear circumstances, suffered hull damage. Shortly after, the vessel sought emergency port in Tromsø, Norway. It has since been towed and partially sailed on its own, with a declared destination of Klaipeda in Lithuania.
The vessel MV Ruby has 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate on board. It is a hazardous chemical that, among other things, was behind the notorious mega-explosion in Beirut's port in Lebanon in 2020 – but then in much smaller quantities.
According to the Coast Guard, ammonium nitrate is classified as hazardous goods, but the authority assesses that the transport is "part of the normal picture". The technical problems and the fact that the vessel may be towed in high-traffic sea areas make it important to follow the vessel.
Transports of the substance are common and occur daily to and from Swedish ports.
Ammonium nitrate is produced from ammonia and nitric acid. It is not an explosive in itself, but can, under certain circumstances, be brought to explosion. If it is mixed with oil and aluminum powder, one gets an explosive.
Ammonium nitrate is used for fertilizers, but has also been used to manufacture bombs in a number of atrocities around the world – including in Oklahoma in 1995 and in Bali in 2002.
The Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik used the substance for the bomb that detonated outside the government quarter in Oslo in 2011, and it was also used in the suicide bombing in Stockholm in 2010.
In 2020, over 200 people were killed and several thousand injured in a massive explosion in Beirut's port. It was caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored in the port for over six years without adequate safety measures.
