NS Concord

History

Name	NS Concord
Owner	SCF Novoship, Novorossiysk, Russia
Port of registry	Liberia
Builder	Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea
Laid down	2005
Launched	1 February 2005
Acquired	April 20, 2005
Identification	Call sign: A8FD7 IMO number: 9299692 MMSI number: 636012382
General characteristics
Type	Aframax C-Class
Tonnage	105,902 DWT
Length	243.97 m.
Beam	42.03 m.
Depth	21.00 m.
Speed	15.00

MV NS Concord is a Russian owned, Liberian-flagged oil tanker that gained notoriety in 2014 after it was allegedly connected to the submarine search in the Stockholm archipelago.^[1]

The oil tanker arrived in the area on October 4 but was later charted as zigzagging across the seas, as if searching for something.^[2] The vessel "could be a mothership for a possible submarine," according to Stefan Ring, an expert on military strategies at The Swedish National Defence College. "It is possible to use a ship like this as a mothership for mini submarines. Sailing under another flag could be to hide what they really are doing," Ring said.^[3] However, Anders Nordin at the Swedish Coastguard told news agency TT that the NS Concord's movements were consistent with normal tanker movements.^[4]

NS Concord belongs to the Russian shipping company SCF Novoship, based in Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. The company is in turn part of the state-owned OAO Sovcomflot, one of the world's largest oil transport companies, whose CEO, Sergei Frank, is a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.^[5]

References

^ 'Russian submarine spotted' by Swedish military off coast of Stockholm, The Independent, October 20, 2014.
^ Sweden hunts damaged Russian sub: report, The Local, October 18, 2014.
^ Suspected foreign underwater activity, Expressen, October 19, 2014.
^ No let-up in search for foreign vessel, The Local, October 20, 2014.
^ Sweden hunts for suspected Russian submarine in Cold War-style drama, The Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2014.