For several days now, the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Ruby has been drifting in the North Sea. On board are 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, used to make fertilizers.
It is this substance exploded in the port of Beirut in 2020. Ruby took him on board at the end of August in Kandalaksha (Murmansk region) and was sailing with him to Spain. A few days later, the ship got into a storm and damaged the rudder. Since then, it has been limited in maneuvers.
Ruby tried to call at the port of Tromsø in Norway for repairs, but was refused because of the explosive cargo. Then Klaipeda in Lithuania was chosen as the place for repairs. But the authorities there also rejected the application. The Swedish ports of Gothenburg and Uddevalla did the same. The dry cargo ship decided to go to Malta. But the port of Valletta also refused entry, stating that it first had to unload saltpeter.
Some “experts” share the concerns of the authorities of those countries that refused to repair Ruby. According to British analyst Roland Alford, the cargo on board has the same explosive power as the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, writes Newsweek magazine. Jacob Kaarsbo from the Danish think tank Europe told the DR television channel that Ruby was behaving “suspiciously.” According to him, it is possible that this is part of a hybrid operation by the Russian Federation.
It is worth noting that other courts also transport ammonium nitratewhich is the most important mineral fertilizer for agriculture, but no such claims are made against them. And this is despite the fact that the European Union has a serious shortage of mineral fertilizers, which has led to a sharp increase in food prices.
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