A Chinese ship captain alleged to have caused significant damage to critical infrastructure on the seabed of the Baltic Sea appeared before Hong Kong’s Eastern Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The case concerns damage to an underwater gas pipeline and telecommunications cables between Finland and Estonia in October 2023.
Wan Wenguo, 43, captain of the Hong Kong-registered container ship NewNew Polar Bear, was formally assigned a duty lawyer by the court after appearing without legal representation. The prosecution requested an adjournment until 26 September to allow further time to collect evidence from Finnish and Estonian authorities. The magistrate granted the extension.
Wan is charged with criminal damage under Hong Kong law. According to the charge sheet, he is accused of “without lawful excuse” damaging property belonging to others and acting “recklessly” as to whether such property would be harmed. The charge relates to the alleged severing of the Balticconnector natural gas pipeline and submarine telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea on 8 October 2023.
The defendant also faces two further charges involving violations of maritime regulations, including provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. Wan did not seek bail during his initial court appearance in May and remains in custody. He again declined to apply for bail on Friday.
Authorities in Finland allege that the NewNew Polar Bear dragged its anchor along the seabed, causing physical damage to the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland and Estonia. The cable was found to have been severed at a point on the route between the Finnish coast and the Estonian mainland. Investigators believe the anchor was likely deployed while the vessel was underway, a scenario inconsistent with standard maritime navigation procedures.
Estonian police, conducting a parallel investigation, suspect that the same vessel also damaged multiple telecommunications cables on 7–8 October 2023. These include submarine lines connecting Estonia to both Finland and Sweden. The incidents are believed to have occurred as the ship was en route to a Russian port near Saint Petersburg.
While both Finnish and Estonian investigators have traced the damage to the movements of the NewNew Polar Bear, neither country has concluded whether the acts were intentional or the result of operational negligence. Both investigations are ongoing, and requests for mutual legal assistance have been issued to relevant jurisdictions.
The Baltic Sea region has experienced heightened concern over the security of undersea infrastructure since early 2022. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a number of unexplained outages have been reported, involving gas pipelines, power transmission lines, and communications networks.
Some European governments have attributed these incidents to sabotage and have accused Russian state or proxy actors of engaging in hybrid operations targeting strategic infrastructure. Moscow has denied involvement, calling such allegations part of a wider campaign by Western governments to discredit Russia and destabilise its interests.
The case involving Wan and the NewNew Polar Bear has drawn attention due to the sensitive nature of the damaged infrastructure, which includes not only an operational energy pipeline but also vital communications links used by multiple Nordic and Baltic states.
Although the captain is being tried in Hong Kong, the outcome of the case may bear broader implications for international maritime law enforcement and the legal accountability of commercial shipping operations in relation to critical subsea assets.
Wan’s next court appearance is scheduled for 26 September 2025. Proceedings will depend on whether Finnish and Estonian authorities provide additional evidence clarifying the intent behind the vessel’s course and anchoring actions. Until then, the captain remains in pre-trial detention in Hong Kong.
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