Vessel potentially linked to Russia with 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate arrives in NATO country
MV Ruby ship (Getty Images)
A cargo ship carrying 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate has arrived at a port in Great Britain. The MV Ruby, flying the Maltese flag, began its journey from the northern Russian port of Kandalaksha, citing Newsweek.
According to the report, the vessel initially attempted to reach Las Palmas in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. However, after sustaining storm damage to its hull and propeller en route, the 2012-built ship sought repair options at several ports across Europe. Notably, on September 3, it docked at the industrial port of Tromsø in Norway. The ship then departed on September 4 due to safety concerns regarding its ammonium nitrate cargo.
For the same reason, most EU countries, including Sweden, Lithuania, and Malta, denied it permission to dock.
The overall length of the ship is 183 meters, with a width of 27.8 meters. It is also worth noting that the amount of cargo on board is more than seven times greater than the amount of nitrate that exploded at the port of Beirut in Lebanon in 2020, resulting in at least 218 fatalities.
The damaged tanker will offload 20,000 tons onto another vessel bound for Africa and will then head to dry dock for repairs.
The presence of the ship has raised alarms, particularly because at one point it was anchored approximately 30 miles from the sunken World War II submarine Richard Montgomery, which contains a significant quantity of unexploded munitions.
However, the owner and manager of the Ruby stated that concerns regarding the "floating bomb," as British media has dubbed it, are unfounded. In a statement, they noted that ammonium nitrate is a common cargo transported in this manner and poses no threat to the vessel, crew, or the environment in the current state of the ship.
The Beirut ammonium nitrate explosion The explosions that occurred on August 4, 2020, in Beirut, were linked to the accumulation of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in the port since 2013. This compound, often used in agriculture as fertilizer, is highly dangerous when improperly stored due to its explosive nature. The explosion occurred after an initial fire in a warehouse ignited the ammonium nitrate.
This disaster devastated a significant portion of the city: over 200 people died, thousands were injured, and about 300,000 residents lost their homes. The explosion had serious economic and social repercussions for Lebanon and triggered outrage over the negligence of local authorities, as the dangerous storage of ammonium nitrate had been known, yet no actions were taken to safely remove it.
