Norwegian Police News

Some 1,000 vessels have been impacted by a cyber attack on DNV's ship malmanagement and operations software, the classification society has confirmed.DNV said it shut down ShipManager’s IT servers in response to a ransomware attack that hit the software on January 7. The marine fleet management solution supports management of vessels and fleets in technical, operational and compliance aspects, including maintenance and repair, procurement, safety systems and data analytics.The software's onboard…

Norway police on Friday investigated reports of a drone flying over the Kaarstoe [Kårstø] gas plant in southwest Norway on Thursday, while in Arctic Norway a Russian-Israeli citizen was arrested when police found two drones in his car.The Norwegian military Home Guard has been posted at Kaarstoe and other major energy export facilities since authorities boosted security at Norwegian oil and gas installations after the Sept. 26 Nord Stream leaks.At 2130 local time (1930 GMT) on Thursday…

Norwegian police on Thursday responded to a threat made by telephone against the Nyhamna gas processing plant, one of Europe's largest energy export facilities, and later said the incident had been resolved. The threat came amid heightened concerns about the security of oil and gas infrastructure following suspected sabotage of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe, though plant operator Gassco and offshore producers Shell and Equinor said output had not been interrupted.

Swedish builder Marell Boats recently delivered the first in a series of five new Marell M12 RIB patrol boats for the Norwegian Police.The multipurpose fast patrolling and interceptor vessels will be delivered through the first quarter 2023, entering operations at five different locations along the coastline in southern Norway.The medium-sized, aluminum-hulled patrol boats will be used for patrolling and assignments such as surveillance, search and rescue, boarding and control of recreational boats.

Norway said on Thursday it would impose limits on Russian fishing vessels using its ports, in a further tightening of security following last week's suspected sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the nearby Baltic Sea.Russian trawlers will now only be allowed to visit three of several dozen ports along the Norwegian coast and must undergo security checks when they do, foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt told a news conference.She stopped short of imposing a total ban on Russian vessels demanded by some security experts and opposition politicians…

Norway's military said on Monday it had posted soldiers to help guard major onshore oil and gas processing plants, part of a wider effort to boost security amid suspicion that sabotage caused leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines last week.Russia's Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines burst on Sept. 26, draining gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists registered explosions in the area, and police in several countries have launched investigations.Norway…

Swedish builder Marell Boats informs it has been awarded a new contract to supply five fast patrolling and interceptor vessels to the Norwegian Police. The five new M12 RIBs will be delivered during from the third quarter this year through the first quarter 2023, to five different locations in south of Norway.The medium-sized patrol boats will be used by the Norwegian Police for patrolling and assignments such as surveillance, search and rescue, boarding and control of recreational boats. It will also be used as a training platform of police personnel in boat handling and navigation.

Norwegian police said they had arrested 20 Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion campaigners who on Monday blocked a tanker from delivering Russian oil to an Exxon Mobil terminal.In a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, activists had fastened their red rubber dinghy to the Ust Luga's anchor chain, Greenpeace said, as they sought to prevent it offloading an estimated 95,000 tonnes of oil."Oil is not only at the root of the climate crisis, but also of wars and conflicts.

Norway stopped all cruise ships with more than 100 people on board from disembarking at its ports from Monday, after an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported late last week on a ship that had already disembarked at the port of Tromsoe.At least 41 passengers and crew who were on board the cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen, operated by Norwegian company Hurtigruten, have so far tested positive for the coronavirus, while hundreds more on board were told to self-isolate for 10 days, local public health officials said on Sunday.Norway is in touch with Germany…

Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten is halting all its so-called expedition cruises until further notice following an outbreak of COVID-19 on one of its vessels last week, the company said on Monday.At least 41 passengers and crew from the MS Roald Amundsen have so far tested positive for the coronavirus, while hundreds more have been told to self-isolate for 10 days, public health officials said.“A preliminary evaluation shows a breakdown in several of our internal procedures,” Chief Executive Daniel Skjeldam said in a statement.“Our own failure…

Norway's national economic crime unit raided the local office of international shipping company Teekay Offshore this week on suspicion of illegally exporting waste, the agency, known as Okokrim, said on Thursday.In recent years, courts in Europe using tougher regulations have fined shipping companies for transporting hazardous waste for disposal in cases that have added to complexities for seaborne transporters often operating in several jurisdictions.Maria Bache Dahl, acting senior public prosecutor with Okokrim, said authorities had carried out a search of Teekay Shipping Norway's office in the southern city of Stavanger on Tuesday…

The Norwegian authorities on Thursday suspended wider search and rescue operations for two Bulgarian sailors who officials say fell overboard from a cargo ship in the Norwegian Sea, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said.The two-helicopter rescue operation began around 400 kilometers southwest of the town of Bodo in the early afternoon on Thursday, but activities were severely hampered by bad weather - high winds and eight-meter-high waves, the ministry said."According to the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center, under the current climatic conditions there is no chance for those who have fallen into the water to survive for such a long time," the ministry said in a statement.The crew of the Stara Planina cargo ship consists of 19 people - 18 Bulgarian citizens and one Ukraine citizen.Th

Global safety products manufacturer and service provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has won a contract to build and supply a VIKING Norsafe Munin S1200 patrol boat for the Norwegian police force.The vessel, which will be built in Arendal, Norway and delivered in December this year, will carry out police patrol and rescue missions in the East Police District covering the 38 municipalities from Gardermoen to the Swedish border.Seeing off competition from five other providers,…

Offshore rig firm Transocean was cleared of accusations of tax evasion in a civilian case brought by the Norwegian state, a Norwegian appeals court said in a verdict on Monday.   By reversing the verdict made by a lower court, Transocean avoided claims of about 400 million Norwegian crowns ($47 million) to the Norwegian tax authorities.   In January, Norwegian police said they had dropped a planned appeal in a criminal case against Transocean declaring that the company and its advisers were considered innocent in the decade-long tax fraud case.   The civilian case was based on the same foundation as the criminal case, the court said in the verdict.   (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Louise Ireland)

A Norwegian ship rescued more than 600 migrants from two wooden boats on Monday in the southern part of the Mediterranean, the Norwegian police said on Twitter. All migrants picked by the ship, the Siem Pilot, were healthy, including several pregnant women, the Norwegian authorities said.   Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have died trying to cross the Mediterranean, mostly heading for Italy. European Union leaders agreed in April to boost naval search mission in the Mediterranean after a boat sank and as many as 900 migrants died off the coast of Libya. The Siem Pilot is part of the EU's operation off Italy. It was originally built to supply oil platforms in the North Sea. Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis

Norwegian police on Friday recommended reopening an investigation into a ferry fire in 1990 that killed 159 people after a police review cast doubt on findings that a Danish man who died on board had started the blaze. Survivors and relatives of passengers who died on the Scandinavian Star have long campaigned for the case to be reopened, because of doubts that a single passenger could have started all the fires that broke out in several parts of the vessel as it headed from Norway to Denmark. Last year, with Norway's 25-year statute of limitations for murder cases looming, police agreed to review their work on the case. "When 159 people are killed in a fire that was probably started deliberately…

Norwegian authorities have rejected an appeal by Greenpeace to stop Statoil from drilling the world's most northerly well on the Apollo prospect in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian oil company said on Friday. The company's announcement that it has been given approval to start drilling comes a day after Norwegian police removed seven Greenpeace protesters who had boarded the rig in an attempt to prevent it from reaching the Barents Sea and Bear Island, an uninhabited wildlife sanctuary that is home to rare species, including polar bears. “Greenpeace has once again performed an illegal action.

The activists on board the Transocean Spitsbergen are now in the hands of Norwegian police. The rig was on its way for planned exploration drilling in the Hoop-area in the Barents Sea when Greenpeace activists boarded the rig in the early hours of Tuesday, 27 May. Statoil is very pleased that the illegal action on the rig now has ended without anyone being injured. The rig will now prepare for transit to the drilling site for the Apollo well in the Hoop area. Statoil has a permit to start the drilling operations, but awaits a final decision on a Greenpeace appeal to the Norwegian Ministry of climate and environment before drilling into oil-bearing layers.