The Finnish broadcaster monitored ship traffic in the Baltic Sea in the first half of 2024. Over 280 units have been identified, classified as the so-called “shadow fleets”.
These are the ships that carry Russian oil subject to Western sanctions and can only have insurance issued in Russia or have none. Most of them are 15-year-old or older tankers.
Russia. They export oil through the Baltic Sea. Every second ship belongs to the “shadow fleet”
15 years of ship operation is the limit beyond which the probability of technical problems, faults, failures or accidents increases. In the case of tankers, it depends on the quality of periodic inspections performed – the report noted, emphasizing that in the event of an accident, given the unclear scope of insurance, obtaining compensation is “doubtful”.
Additionally 11 tankers identified in the Gulf of Finland, the Paris Memorandum Committee put them on the “blacklist”, considering them units practically unseaworthy. The Paris MoU is an international agreement between the maritime administrations of European countries, Canada and Russia on the regional system of control of foreign-flagged ships calling at their ports.
In 2022, every fifth tanker transporting crude oil through Baltic Sea. In 2024, it will be every second ship – it was noted.
Russian tankers bypass sanctions. This is how they fuel the war against Ukraine
The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in Helsinki estimated that in the period from the beginning of 2022 to mid-2024, i.e. from the beginning of Russian aggression on Ukraine, Russia transported nearly 340 million tons of oil or petroleum products worth over EUR 220 billion via routes across the Baltic Sea..
Russia's main oil terminals are located in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland in the St. Petersburg region, in Primorsk and Ust-Luga. Russian “shadow tankers”, not covered by Western insurance, play a significant role in circumventing sanctions imposed on The Kremlin by the group G7.
They transport oil to customers in other countries who are willing to pay Russia more than the agreed maximum price – $60 per barrel, which constitutes significant support for the Russian war machine in Ukraine.