NS Concord
History | |
---|---|
Name: | NS Concord |
Owner: | SCF Novoship, Novorossiysk, Russia |
Port of registry: | Liberia |
Builder: | Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea |
Laid down: | 2005 |
Acquired: | April 20, 2005 |
Identification: |
|
General characteristics | |
Type: | Aframax C-Class |
Tonnage: | 105,902 DWT |
Length: | 243.97 m. |
Beam: | 42.03 m. |
Depth: | 21.00 m. |
Speed: | 15.00 |
MV NS Concord is Russian owned, Liberian-flagged oil tanker that gained notoriety in 2014 after it was allegedly connected to the submarine search in the Stockholm archipelago.[1]
The oil tanker arrived in the area on October 4 but was later charted as zigzagging across the seas, as if searching for something.[2] The vessel "could be a mothership for a possible submarine," according to Stefan Ring, an expert on military strategies at The Swedish National Defence College. "It is possible to use a ship like this as a mothership for mini submarines. Sailing under another flag could be to hide what they really are doing," Ring said.[3] However, Anders Nordin at the Swedish Coastguard told news agency TT that the NS Concord's movements were consistent with normal tanker movements.[4]
NS Concord belongs to the Russian shipping company SCF Novoship, based in Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. The company is in turn part of the state-owned OAO Sovcomflot, one of the world's largest oil transport companies, whose CEO, Sergei Frank, is a close confident of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[5]
References
- ↑ 'Russian submarine spotted' by Swedish military off coast of Stockholm, The Independent, October 20, 2014.
- ↑ Sweden hunts damaged Russian sub: report, The Local, October 18, 2014.
- ↑ Suspected foreign underwater activity, Expressen, October 19, 2014.
- ↑ No let-up in search for foreign vessel, The Local, October 20, 2014.
- ↑ Sweden hunts for suspected Russian submarine in Cold War-style drama, The Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2014.