Samus-Swan

A Danish court has found that although the master of the 'Samus Swan' acted with negligence in an anchor-dragging incident that severed a subsea power cable, the shipping company’s liability is limited. The case, which dates to Feb 26, 2022, comes as the issue of anchor dragging and intent and awareness of the situation has been raised after similar incidents in the Baltic that are under legal review. The island of Bornholm was plunged into darkness with the Swedish energy company Energinet quickly determining that one of its undersea power cables had been severely damaged. Power was restored within a few hours with a reserve generation station on the island while it would take over a month to repair the cable. The 'Samus Swan' was quickly identified as the likely cause of the power failure. Tracking showed the vessel had been in the channel offshore but initially denied responsibility. The Danish shipping company Uni-Tankers, which operates the vessel, later admitted responsibility but said it was an accident due in part to heavy weather. Energinet sued in 2023 reporting that it had cost the company nearly $8 million to repair the cable. The process took until March 2022, with the company reporting more than 2.5 miles of cable had to be replaced. The judges on Denmark’s Maritime and Commercial Court issued a ruling on July 4, 2025, finding that while they agreed the captain showed negligence, they did not believe it rose to the level of gross negligence because there was no knowledge of the likelihood of damage to the cable. The crew did not recognize that the anchor had dropped. When the vessel started to lose speed, the captain focused on the engines. Two of the experts on the panel believed the captain’s behaviour was negligent, while a third said it was gross negligence. The court’s decision permits Uni-Tanker to limit the level of liability to a maximum of approximately $4.3 million (DKK 27.2 million). Energinet had been suing for approximately $6 million (DKK 38 million) and was saddened by the decision, reviewing the verdict and by law, and has the right to appeal to the High Court.

The Funen based shipping company Uni-Tankers was sued for a compensation of DKK 38 million by the Maritime and Commercial Court for destroying the submarine cable over to Bornhol with the 'Samus Swan' on Feb 26, 2022, which meant that the power to the island was interrupted. The 'Samus Swan' was on its way from Latvia to Rotterdam, when it probably pulled an anchor through the cable, so the electricity supply from the mainland was cut. However, a decommissioned power plant on Bornholm was put into operation in just six hours.

The 'Samus Swan', sailing for the Danish shipping company Uni-Tankers, was suspected to have switched off all lights on Bornholm early in the morning of Feb 26, 2022, en route from Ventspils to Rotterdam. It was found out that the vessel was in the area at that time by comparing data on the ship's movements based on AIS signals, with the cabling across the seabed and the time of the power outage. The information pointed in the direction that it was the Danish-powered tanker which tore the power cable to pieces, so that the power went out on Bornholm. The investigations were going on.