MV Ruby crisis: Europe on alert over dangerous ammonium nitrate cargo

The damaged freighter MV Ruby, carrying 22,000 tonnes of Russian ammonium nitrate, is sailing around Europe. An explosion of such cargo – similar to the one that occurred in Beirut in 2020 – can cause enormous destruction, leading more countries to close their ports to the Ruby. Security experts also point out the unusual maneuvers of the vessel coming from Russia.

MV Ruby is an approximately 180-metre ship, flying the flag of Malta, but owned by a Lebanese company controlled by Syrians and transporting cargo from Russia. In the Russian port of Kandalaksha in the Murmansk region, 22,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were loaded onto its deck, intended for delivery to the port of Valetta in Malta.

However, the ship was damaged during a storm – running aground caused damage to the rudder, propulsion, and hull, and the vessel is moving with the help of a tugboat. Due to its dangerous cargo, more countries are closing their ports to it, citing safety concerns.

For the same reason, the Danish Straits have been closed to the ship, preventing it from entering the Baltic Sea, where – as planned – the ammonium nitrate was to be unloaded in one of the Russian ports.

The context of the cargo's origin and the vessel's ownership is also significant. Security experts, such as British analyst Ronald Alford and Jacob Kaarsbo from the think tank Europe, point out the possibility of the Russians using the ship with ammonium nitrate as a weapon in hybrid warfare.

Concern was raised by, among other things, its extended stay near the Norwegian Andoya air base, which is an important component of NATO's Arctic military infrastructure.

Ammonium nitrate, also known as ammonia nitrate, exists as light granules. Since it is well soluble in water and contains a lot of nitrogen, it is widely used in agriculture as a fertilizer. High temperatures cause ammonium nitrate to decompose into water and nitrogen oxide (known as laughing gas). Because the decomposition occurs explosively, the fertilizer can be used to make a bomb.

This was exploited by bombers such as Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik, and in Poland, among others, by Brunon Kwiecień, who planned to attack the Polish Parliament building with an armoured transporter filled with ammonium nitrate.

The power of a fertilizer charge explosion was also experienced by the residents of Beirut, whose port district was destroyed in 2020 by the explosion of a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate. More than 200 people died, and over 7,000 were injured. The MV Ruby's cargo is seven times larger than the one that destroyed part of Beirut.