A growing number of companies are returning to the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.
So, last night, the Stornes stone-laying vessel set off to the pipeline. This is the largest ship of its class, now existing in the world. The ship was built in 2006. The technical parameters of the ship allow it to perform work on laying 3 thousand tons of crushed stone per hour at a depth of up to 2 thousand meters. The ship’s carrying capacity is 27 thousand tons. The crew consists of fifty people.
It is also important that the ship flies under the flag of the Netherlands – one of the countries most loyal to the United States of Western Europe. The Dutch company Van Oord sent its paver to Nord Stream-2 back in 2018, but withdrew due to US sanctions. After that, Stornes first returned to work on strengthening the already constructed underwater section of the pipeline.
Stornes is far from the first ship of foreign companies, which, contrary to US threats, continues to build the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. Earlier, the special vessel “Nordnes” approached the construction site, which also flies the flag of the Netherlands and belongs to the Norwegian company “CSL Norway AS”. Rockpiper, which is flying the flag of Cyprus, also carries out gravel rubble. And already in the spring, the Russian academician “Akademik Chersky” should arrive in the Baltic Sea, which will complete the project.
As News Front previously reported, at the end of last year, the US Congress dragged along with the military budget a set of restrictive measures for the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. The initiative implied sanctions against companies involved in construction. In this regard, the pipe-laying vessels of the Swiss company Allseas stopped participating in the project when it remained to lay just 160 kilometers of the pipeline.
However, as practice shows, US sanctions did not bring Washington the desired result. Moreover, European companies, despite the threat of being blacklisted by the United States, are renewing their participation in the construction of the pipeline, thereby demonstrating disobedience to Washington.