By Faridat Salifu
Shipping companies may soon be required to pay a fee to navigate the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s most heavily trafficked maritime routes, in a bid to cover the escalating costs of safeguarding undersea cables.
Estonia’s Defense Minister, Hanno Pevkur, discussed the potential fee proposal on Wednesday, following a recent uptick in suspected sabotage incidents.
On Tuesday, NATO announced it would deploy additional security measures, including frigates, patrol aircraft, and drones, in response to several instances where ships have damaged vital power and communication cables with their anchors.
These cables, crucial for global telecom and energy transmission, have become increasingly vulnerable due to the high volume of maritime traffic in the region.
Related Posts
In addition to the increased patrols, Pevkur noted that governments are exploring further protective options, such as installing sensors to detect damaged cables or constructing physical barriers around them.
However, these measures come at a significant cost, which may ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher utility bills or taxes.
Another proposed solution involves charging a fee to vessels passing through the Baltic, similar to the landing fees paid by passengers at airports. This “insurance fee,” Pevkur suggested, would help fund the protection efforts, with the goal of reducing the risk to undersea infrastructure.
The Baltic Sea, which sees as many as 4,000 ships daily, is particularly prone to such damage, with an estimated 150 undersea cables being harmed globally each year. The shallow waters and dense shipping traffic make the region a hotspot for incidents like those recently reported between Latvia, Sweden, Estonia, and Finland.
Authorities in Sweden recently detained a Maltese-flagged ship linked to one such incident involving damage to a cable connecting Latvia and Sweden. Pevkur indicated that the string of attacks suggests a coordinated campaign, possibly involving Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ships, despite Moscow’s denials of any wrongdoing.
