Dangerous freighter MV Ruby blocked in European ports
The damaged freighter MV Ruby, carrying 22,000 tons of Russian ammonium nitrate, is sailing around Europe. An explosion of such cargo – similar to the one that occurred in Beirut in 2020 – can cause enormous destruction, prompting more countries to close their ports to the Ruby. Security experts are also drawing attention to the unusual maneuvers of the vessel coming from Russia.
3:41 PM EDT, September 25, 2024
MV Ruby is a 600-foot ship flying the flag of Malta, but it is owned by a Lebanese company controlled by Syrians and transports cargo from Russia. In the Russian port of Kandalaksha in the Murmansk region, 22,000 tons of ammonium nitrate were loaded onto its deck, bound for the port of Valetta in Malta.
However, the ship was damaged during a storm. Running aground caused damage to the rudder, propulsion, and resulted in hull cracks. The vessel is now moving with the help of a tugboat. Due to its cargo, more countries are closing their ports to it, citing safety concerns.
For the same reason, the Danish Straits have been closed to the ship, preventing it from entering the Baltic Sea, where – as planned – the ammonium nitrate was to be unloaded in one of the Russian ports.
The context of the cargo's origin and the vessel's ownership is also significant. Security experts like British analyst Ronald Alford and Jacob Kaarsbo from the think tank Europe point out the possibility of the Russians using the ship with ammonium nitrate as a weapon in hybrid warfare.
Concerns were raised by its extended stay near the Norwegian Andoya air base, which is an important component of NATO's Arctic military infrastructure.
Ammonium nitrate: Fertilizer and explosives
Ammonium nitrate, also known as ammonia nitrate, is in the form of light granules. Since it is well soluble in water and contains a lot of nitrogen, it is widely used in agriculture as a fertilizer. High temperatures cause ammonium nitrate to decompose into water and nitrogen oxide (known as laughing gas), and because the decomposition occurs explosively, the fertilizer can be used to make bombs.
This was exploited by bombers such as Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik, and in Poland by Brunon Kwiecień, who planned to attack the Polish Parliament building with an armored transporter filled with ammonium nitrate.
The power of a fertilizer charge explosion was also experienced by the residents of Beirut, whose port district was destroyed in 2020 by the explosion of a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate. More than 200 people died, and over 7,000 were injured. The MV Ruby's cargo is seven times larger than the one that destroyed part of Beirut.
