(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Now it's a Taiwan cable cut and the ship is a mystery [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-26

The Taiwan-Penghu No.3 fiber optic cable was severed linking Taiwan to Penghu, which is a group of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, 31 miles west of Taiwan, on Feb.25th.

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent a patrol and rescue vessel at 2:30 a.m. to monitor the Hong Tai 58, which was anchored 6 nautical miles northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Port in Tainan (city in Taiwan).

At 3 a.m. the CGA received a report from Chunghwa Telecom that the cable had been severed.

The patrol vessel tried to detain the vessel, but the height difference and rough seas prevented boarding. Another ship was dispatched and brought Hong Tai 58 to Anping Harbor where it, and the crew of eight Chinese nationals, were detained pending investigation by Tainan prosecutors.

When the patrol boat first radioed the cargo ship, the crew said the ship was the Hong Tai 168, while the AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponder showed it to be the Hong Tai 58. Hong Tai 168 is painted on the side of the ship.

I cannot find either ship having an IMO (International Maritime Organization) number, or an owner, commercial manager, or ISM (International Safety Management).

Normally I can find anything on Magicport.ai, but not this time. Hong Tai 58 draws a blank. Hong Tai 168 has an IMO of 0. Draft weight is 0. ETA is 1/1/2025 at 00:00. It does show a MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) number of 312568000. The only other information shows the flag of Belize. The ship stopped is supposedly flagged under Togo.

I tried Yong, Hung, and Ti variations and came up empty. Just Hong Tai found an LPG tanker, which this ship is not. There are other Hong Tai's, but with different numbers.

Video of the CGA boarding the ship.

The freighter had been loitering near the severed cable, 1000 yards from it, since 7 p.m. on Feb.22nd.

The assumption is that the incident is more hybrid warfare against Taiwan from mainland China.

Taiwan has reported five cases of cable malfunctions this year already, compared to three each in 2023 and 2024.

Officials are calling it a "makeshift ship," and believe it is backed by Chinese capital.

Lloyd's List found a Hong Tai 58 with an IMO of 8357069. That is also the IMO of Jin Long 389, which is impossible.

I finally found it as HongTai58. It is flying the flag of Togo. The registered owner is Cosco Shipping Leasing Co. LTD. I've come across them before. They buy ships from owners and then turn right around and lease them back. It gives the ship "owners" working capital.

The commercial owner of the HongTai58 shows as Dongguan Jinlong Shipping. Reports in several places say the Jinlong 389 is also owned by Dongguan Jinlong Shipping. Same company, two different ships, same IMO number. Impossible. Magicport.ai has never heard of the Jinlong 389. It also has no record of a Dongguan Jinlong Shipping Co. LTD.

Now we've got a company that doesn't exist, with two ships with the same IMO, a ship that identifies itself as Hong Tai 168 when the transponder says Hong Tai 58, one ship that doesn't exist and Cosco Shipping Leasing behind the money. And we haven't even gotten to the point where Tainan police have any evidence or information from the crew of the 168 or 58 or whatever it is.

Just to confuse you even more, in one of my other cable break reports, there was a Chinese ship with two AIS responders. It was one ship here, disappeared by turning off the transponder, then showed up as another ship 30 seconds later, 100 yards away from the first ship.

In January, Taiwan was dealing with this same ship that had three identities.

Tanzania flagged Xing Shun 39 - IMO 8358427 Cameroon flagged Shun Xing 39 Camaroon flagged Xing Shun 39 - IMO 8986951

It was first spotted in October of last year. Going back farther to September, the Tazania flagged Xing Shun 39 AIS had it off the coast of South Korea, while at the same time the Camaroon flagged Xing Shun 39 was off the Taiwanese coast.

In October, both AIS units were placed on the same ship.

There is still another ship, the Bao Chau 16 that has the same IMO as the Tanzania flagged Xing Shun 39. The Register and Commercial Owner of that Xing Shun 39 is Bao Chau Co. LTD. The name of the Xing Shun 39 owner and the ship Bao Chau 16 having the same name makes this all the more confusing

I covered the Jan.3rd cable cut in a diary about the Chinese trying to patent a cable cutting device.

This is how complicated the Chinese make things to discover who's who. To cover their tracks.

The Hong Tai 58/168 incident shows that the Taiwanese CGA are taking these Chinese ships going through the Taiwan Strait in a much tougher stance. They watch for ships lingering in one spot and others that suddenly slow down or make erratic maneuvers.

They are not caring that the Chinese will say ships have been seized in international waters. The Chinese government has said nothing about this ship. Reports say they have tried to contact the ship owners, but I don't know how they could do that unless they're trying to contact Cosco Shipping Leasing. All the other names are from companies that don't exist and ships that don't exist.

No news today from Tainan police about ship or crew interview evidence. Like other cable cutting incidents, they'd be looking for a missing or damaged anchor, drag marks on the seabed, or equipment on board the ship like remotely operated submersibles with cable cutting ability. Even deep sea diving suits.

The Chinese being quiet is different. Maybe they know that Taiwan isn't going to let things slide anymore. More news as it develops.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/26/2306289/-Now-it-s-a-Taiwan-cable-cut-and-the-ship-is-a-mystery?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/