According to reports in The Washington Post and World Cargo News, FBI agents conducted a search of the Zhen Hua 24 in Chesapeake Bay off the Port of Baltimore last week.
The Washington Times reported that FBI counterintelligence agents searched the ZPMC crane delivery vessel Zhen Hua 24 in Baltimore harbour on 15 September 2021 while the vessel was delivering four new STS cranes to Ports America Chesapeake Bay.
The Neo-Panamax cranes are destined for the port’s Seagirt Marine Terminal, where they will help expand operations at the port to handle two supersized ships at once.
According to the Washington Times, “The agents were said by informed sources to have uncovered intelligence-gathering equipment on the ship during the search on Sept. 15.”
No details of the type of equipment were available, and the state agencies involved declined to comment.
The vessel is now underway from Baltimore to Shanghai, China.
