Arctic Sea: big lumber company, small shipment

Stora Enso owns 250 cubic meters of sawn timber with a value of about Eur 50,000 out of the total 6,700 cubic meters of timber cargo with a value of Eur 1,3 million on board the Arctic Sea,
Stora Enso and UPM sold the goods, 1,750 and 250 cubic meters respectively, to their joint venture, distribution company RETS, Nordlund said. RETS had to deliver the goods to the port of destination (Bejaia, Algeria).

The original destination of the Arctic Sea was Algeria. The ship is being towed by the Russian Navy.
“I am surprised that the ship wasn’t refuelled in Cape Verde. Fuel is available in all harbours. Perhaps the navy wants to keep the ship in its own hands.”

The Finnish owners of the vessel’s cargo said they were simply shipping redwood for windows and doors in Algeria.

“We sold the timber to three customers in Algeria.” He declined to give the customers’ names.

The police have not questioned the company about the ship and its freight. Rets Timber, a joint venture between Europe’s largest papermaker, Stora Enso Oyj, and UPM-Kymmene Oyj, Kari Naumanen, chief executive officer at Helsinki-based Rets. Most of the lumber came from other companies. here