Russia often uses old ships to transport crude oil, which also sail in the Baltic Sea. These tankers are also called shadow fleet. Greenpeace lists almost 200 ships.
A threat to the entire coast
An analysis conducted by the environmental protection organization Greenpeace shows that 192 tankers in poor technical condition they transport Russian crude oil around the world. 171 of these ships have transited the Baltic Sea off Germany and the Kadetrinne Strait in the Gulf of Mecklenburg one or more times in the last two years.
The tankers are outdated, many of them have technical faults, have temporarily disabled their automatic identification systems or have transferred their cargo to other tankers on the high seas. This is a particularly risky maneuver, emphasizes the Greenpeace organization.
The 192 ships listed by the organization are the most dangerous tankers in the so-called Russian shadow fleet. Interestingly, these tankers have not yet been placed on any sanctions list. Greenpeace warns that in the event of an accident in the Kadetrinne Strait northeast of the Gulf of Mecklenburg, the entire German Baltic coast would be at risk. He also points out that all tankers are insufficiently insured against the effects of an oil spill.
Two to three tankers a day
– These tankers must be the first to be put on the EU sanctions list, demands Thilo Maack, a marine biologist from Greenpeace. – The German government must act quickly and prevent the catastrophe that threatens us.
The Greenpeace list includes various types of ships ranging from 183 to 275 meters in length. The oldest of them is 27 years old and the youngest is 16 years old. In September, Greenpeace published data showing that the number of tankers sailing from Russian ports to the Baltic Sea has increased by 70 percent since January 2021.
Target: India and China
A year after the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, nearly a thousand tankers loaded with crude oil from Russia sailed west along the Baltic Sea coast in 2023. That's an average of two to three ships a day. The main recipients of the oil they transport are India and China.
Russia has long been accused of using ships that are not owned by Western shipping companies or insured by Western insurers to circumvent Western price limits on Russian oil exports to third countries.
The price cap came into force along with a broad ban on imports of Russian oil by EU countries. This year, the Council of the Baltic Sea States called for decisive action against the shadow fleet, including tougher sanctions.
(DPA/like)
The article comes from the website Deutsche Welle.