Elisa has declined to provide an estimate of the costs of the repairs. Both Elisa and Fingrid, the Finnish power transmission grid operator, called for the seizure of the oil tanker linked to the damaged cables in a petition submitted to the District Court of Helsinki on Thursday.

“We’ve requested that the vessel be seized to secure our receivables. The damage has caused various costs,” Jaakko Wallenius, the director of security at Elisa, confirmed to YLE on Thursday.

Fingrid similarly communicated last week that it has called for the vessel’s seizure in order to secure its receivables for the damage caused to Estlink 2, a power transmission link between Finland and Estonia. Marina Louhija, the director of legal affairs at Fingrid, said to the public broadcasting company that the seizure petition concerns only the vessel, not its cargo – around 35,000 tonnes of unleaded petrol.

“The cargo isn’t what caused the damage, but the vessel is,” she explained.

Eagle S is believed to have damaged the power transmission link, along with three data cables, by dragging its anchor and anchor chain along the seabed on 25 December 2024. The vessel was seized as part of a criminal pre-trial investigation led by the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) on Sunday, 29 December.

Louhija last Thursday reminded YLE that the KRP seizure relates to the coercive measures act and criminal law. Fingrid’s seizure petition, by contrast, is an attempt to secure compensation for damage in a civil law case.

“They’re in a way two separate legal processes, and that’s why a separate request has to be filed. Because we have different grounds [for the seizure],” she said.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT