NS Concord

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]

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

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 confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[5]

References

  1. 'Russian submarine spotted' by Swedish military off coast of Stockholm, The Independent, October 20, 2014.
  2. Sweden hunts damaged Russian sub: report, The Local, October 18, 2014.
  3. Suspected foreign underwater activity, Expressen, October 19, 2014.
  4. No let-up in search for foreign vessel, The Local, October 20, 2014.
  5. Sweden hunts for suspected Russian submarine in Cold War-style drama, The Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2014.
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