MV Arctic Sunrise

History
Norway
Name	Polarbjørn
Owner	GC Rieber Shipping
Port of registry	Ålesund
Builder	Vaagen Verft, Kyrksæterøra, Norway
Yard number	39
Completed	18 January 1975
Fate	Sold in 1995 to Greenpeace
History
Netherlands
Name	Arctic Sunrise
Owner	Stichting Phoenix
Operator	Stichting Greenpeace Council
Port of registry	Amsterdam
Identification	Call sign: PE6851 IMO number: 7382902
Status	In service
General characteristics
Tonnage	949 GT 353 NT 610 DWT
Displacement	1,478 tonnes
Length	49.5 m (162 ft)
Beam	11.55 m (37.9 ft)
Draft	5.32 m (17.5 ft)
Ice class	DNV Icebreaker (maximum draught 4.7 m)
Installed power	MaK 9M452AK (1,619 kW)
Propulsion	Single shaft; controllable pitch propeller Two thrusters (400 hp each)
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Crew	16

Arctic Sunrise is an ice-strengthened vessel operated by Greenpeace. The vessel was built in 1975 and has a gross tonnage of 949, a length of 50.5 metres (166 ft) and a maximum speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). She is classified by Det Norske Veritas as a "1A1 icebreaker" (the second highest ice strengthening notation at the time of construction).

Under the original name of Polarbjørn ("polar bear"), used as a seismic survey vessel not commissioned for use as a sealer. The vessel was subsequently used by the French government. Greenpeace purchased the ship in 1995. When Greenpeace approached the previous (Norwegian) owners, they said they would not sell the vessel to Greenpeace. Greenpeace responded by forming a "shell company" called Arctic Sunrise Ventures Ltd, to subvert the previous owner's sale restrictions.

Actions

Arctic Sunrise has been involved in various campaigns including anti-whaling campaigns in the Southern Ocean. She is registered as a Motor Yacht (MY).

In January 2006 Arctic Sunrise and Nisshin Maru, a Japanese whaling ship, collided. Both ships suffered minor damage.

In June 2006, Arctic Sunrise was banned from attending the 58th International Whaling Commission meeting in St. Kitts by the St. Kitts and Nevis Government citing national security concerns. Greenpeace's protests were discussed at the same IWC meeting with agenda item IWC/58/3, relating to their protest actions against Japanese whaling in the Southern ocean in December 2005 / January 2006, during which a Japanese whaling ship and a Greenpeace ship collided, resulting in this resolution from the IWC.

On 30 August 2007, Arctic Sunrise was involved in a protest against the Canadian laker Algomarine off of Nanticoke, Ontario where she was attempting to enter harbor with a load of coal for the power station. A RHIB came alongside and activists painted the hull of the laker with "No Coal. No Nuclear. Clean Energy." Two activists then boarded Algomarine and chained themselves to the self-unloading boom. A third activist suspended herself with a climbing harness from the rudder of Algomarine, effectively halting it. The Canadian Coast Guard was called in to remove the protesters.

In early February 2007 the ship was moored in Leith docks, in Edinburgh. On 23 February 2007, she took part in a blockade of Faslane Naval Base and was subsequently impounded by the MoD police but after weeks of the ship being impounded and campaigning the vessel was released.

2013 incident

Main article: Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise ship case

In September 2013, Arctic Sunrise participated in Greenpeace protests against oil drilling activities by the Russian energy company Gazprom at the Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Pechora Sea. Greenpeace opposes oil drilling in the Arctic on the grounds that oil drilling damages the Arctic ecosystem, and that no safety plans are in place to prevent oil spills. Earlier in August 2012, Greenpeace staged similar protests against the same oil rig. On September 18, the crew of Arctic Sunrise circled the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, while three crew attempted to board the platform. In response, the Russian Coast Guard seized control of the ship and detained the activists. The ship was later towed by a coast guard vessel to the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk. The Arctic Sunrise crew consisted of 30 members from 16 nationalities. The Russian government intended to charge the Greenpeace activists with piracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years of imprisonment, although Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the activists are obviously "not pirates". Putin distanced himself from the case and indicated that the independent Russian judiciary would continue with the investigation. On 23 October 2013 the Russian prosecution altered the charges against the activists, rescinding the piracy allegation and charging them instead with hooliganism. A conviction of hooliganism in Russia can result in costly fines and up to 7 years in prison. According to Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace in the U.S. at the time, the reaction of the Russian coast guard and courts was the "stiffest response that Greenpeace has encountered from a government since the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985."

The Netherlands asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order Russia to release a Greenpeace ship and the activists who were on board. Russia subsequently indicated that it would not participate in the tribunal since the matter was an issue of internal Russian law involving criminal acts against Russian property.

See also

• Rainbow Warrior (1955), an older Greenpeace vessel that was sunk by French intelligence service in 1985
• Rainbow Warrior (2011), the second vessel to carry the name
• MV Esperanza, another ship operated by Greenpeace

External links

• Video footage of the Arctic Sunrise colliding with the Nisshin Maru
• Mirimar Ship Index
• Greenpeace Page on MV Arctic Sunrise