What is Russia’s Baltic ‘Shadow Fleet’? | DW News

What is Russia’s Baltic ‘Shadow Fleet’? | DW News

despite a raft of sanctions Russia has continued shipping and selling its crude oil to the world the Danish Straits are a popular Transit point for Russian oil which helps fund its War efforts in Ukraine stopping the flow of money depends on stopping these ships and now the Danish government is facing pressure to take more decisive action Shadow Fleet dark Fleet ghost Fleet Sinister synonyms for decrepit vessels with questionable ownership and inadequate access insurance which environmentalists say are carrying sanctioned Russian oil way too close for comfort in the Danish Straits it is extremely serious and it is extremely risky these oil tankers are carrying over 100,000 tons of crude oil that is toxic to humans and to the environment and will put waste to our coastlines for decades if a if a big accident happens a small accident did happen here in March when the 15-year-old then Panama flagged Andromeda star collided with another ship luckily it was empty but the crew reportedly could not prove the vessel had proper Insurance typical of Shadow Fleet ships so we’re left with the bill we’re left with the cleanup right since the Danish Straits are international waters Russia is allowed to use them even though most of its crude oil cannot be sold directly to European buyers because of sanctions but that free passage is coming under scrutiny this country’s relatively narrow waterways are a strategic Gateway between Russia’s ports and its major markets but the growing number of these completely unregulated ships and growing public awareness about the dangers they pose are putting pressure on the Danish government to do something about them investigative journalist yakob K bore has been exposing the fleet’s murky business practices they have flag States in countries like gaban which is a military dictatorship that recently had a coup some experts say the shadow Fleet now car carries four fths of all Russia’s exports of crude oil under the regulatory radar you have these vessels that don’t exist on paper but they’re right here in front of my eyes this huge Fleet of oil tankers just working in Denmark every day but nobody knows who’s controlling them I think that’s very interesting and I think I we need to get to the bottom of who is controlling them now the Danish government pledges an International Coalition will try to force better practices on the fleet but how sanctions experts at the keev school of Economics Institute believe the key is to more aggressively Target ships known to be flouting their obligation to have credible oil spill Insurance The Vessel would be identified as a property of a sanctioned entity but most importantly anyone um anyone interacting with this vessel or the cargo that it carries uh could face enforcement action themselves that recommendation goes further than the European Union I’s new sanctions on some Shadow Fleet vessels Banning them for the first time from European ports and services but that doesn’t block the ships from sailing through international waters like the Danish Straits whether and how to do that is highly controversial are we willing to go out and intercept and stop this ship because if we are then we are in in the crosshairs of Moscow saying okay Denmark just stopped the ship so we’ll just L the next ship going through make sure that it has an accident so that they have a huge pollution in Danish Waters and then Denmark can do the clean up and good luck with that Moscow has already threatened Denmark with retaliation just for considering a response to the dark Fleet but without one billions of dollars in illegal oil Revenue will continue flowing through European waterways to the Kremlin War chest so these ghost Fleet oil tankers pose a double threat first they undermine efforts to stop Russia selling oil to fund its war against Ukraine and second they could cause an environmental catastrophe with no accountability I asked Benjamin higen from the German Council on Foreign Relations which of these is the more pressing concern the most pressing concern is probably the environmental risk um so as was outlined in in your reporting uh the shadow Fleet which uh is estimated to consist of around 430 plus vessels at this point carrying Russian oil uh these are largely uh tankers at the end of their lifespan they’re older than 15 years um they are under maintained they are flagged in countries that do not have proper regulatory oversight and um and requirements in terms of Maintenance and inspections and most importantly these vessels are not uh not properly insured or they entirely uninsured which means that in case some Accident Happens which as you pointed out has already been the case a couple of times in the last 12 months or so it’s very unlikely that anyone would actually be able to pay out and pay for the damages and the cleanup now this oil that is being shipped uh through the Danish Straits it’s being bought by various countries is is it clear who exactly is buying the sanctioned oil um so there are not very many buyers for Russian oil these days it’s largely uh India China and turkey and if we talk about petroleum products and a couple of other places but the ones that I mentioned make up the uh largest share um so you’re right that this is sanctioned oil in terms of uh Russia can no longer sell it to its traditional export markets uh primarily in Europe uh but what I want to point out is that the the transport of Russian oil and oil products to the countries that I mentioned on on Shadow Fleet vessels uh does not really um indicate any sanctions violation this is a Innovation strategy to get around the price cab and for Russia to be able to sell uh its oil at higher prices than the $60 per barrel that the price cab mandates for crude oil but it’s not really a violation so none of this is uh illegal at first glance at least what can be done do you think to stop these ghost fleets and to reduce the RIS risk of environmental disaster so I think the first step is to uh create more transparency when it comes to the insurance of these vessels we know very little about this so if they are insured with a reputable Western uh insurance company uh specifically when it comes to oil spill insurance or also called protection in emity or p&i Insurance uh if they’re insured with a western company then we know that they’re publicly available databases that are updated regularly that provide this information if they’re not uh then we know very little about the uh insurance that they carry in the two cases where we had incidents or near incidents in the Danish Strait in the last 12 to 18 months or so uh in both cases it became clear that these vessels did not have any uh any kind of insurance to speak up which means it either exists on paper or it doesn’t exist at all and it means that these insurance compan companies are not properly capitalized to pay out in the case of an incident now Denmark of course would prefer not to have to deal with this alone uh should the EU be doing more to help address this problem yeah so this should be done definitely by the entire sanctions Coalition otherwise there is a serious risk of Retribution for the countries that undertake certain steps um as you mentioned in your reporting the the key question here is really enforcement so if we uh want to generate more transparency uh around Insurance of these shadow Fleet vessels and if we want to be able to exclude vessels without proper insurance from uh these Waters like the Danish straight the Gulf of Finland the uh the Dober straight and so forth then we need to find an enforcement mechanism and the enforcement mechanism is uh probably not the actual interdiction of vessels because it creates certain legal issues with regards to uh the right of innocent Passage through these Waters but it also creates a huge opportunity for Russia for some kind of brinkmanship and certain games as was uh outlined by the expert in your in your report uh so the question then is what do we do instead Benin thank you very much C we’re going to have to leave it there we’re out of time that was Benjamin henock of the German Council on Foreign Relations my pleasure thank you let bring inw correspondent Terry Schulz she filed that report Terry these ghost Fleet oil tankers pose as far as I understand a double threat first they undermine sanctions on Russia’s selling oil to fund its war against Ukraine second they could cause an environmental catastrophe with no accountability so what are the two is the most pressing concern in Brussels then well those are two of the concerns and they’re really big ones because of course Europe is is currently struggling to both come up with money and more weapons to help Ukraine uh kick Russia out and at the same time it’s Russia is earning billions from this oil and nobody seems to have the means to stop it right now but as the experts in my piece pointed out if there were to be a leak accidental or otherwise from one of these ships carrying a 100,000 uh tons of oil there would really be no way to clean it up and certainly no money coming from the shipping company itself some of which barely exist legally uh to help these countries along the border so that’s why they’re really looking for more support at the moment but there’s even another concern and that is uh a kind of tricky one and somewhat of a dirty little secret there is some acquiescence to this oil being shipped cheaply like this because it goes to India and it is reprocessed and while the European countries can’t buy the Russian oil they can buy the oil from India after it’s processed and I’ve even heard of European ships traveling to India to pick up oil that would was known to have been transported by these ghost fleets so it’s very very complicated indeed a complicated situation now uh Denmark would not like to deal with these threats alone should and could the EU be doing more to address this problem there’s no way one country can deal with with this by itself because of course yes the ships pass closest to Denmark pass through through the the Danish Straits but they also go on you know passing Sweden Finland into the Baltic countries so those countries are I would say the most concerned about the potential environmental damage but any country should be worried about Russia earning all of these billions of Euros of dollars that are unregulated and and of course posing threats with these ships that shouldn’t be on the water in the first place so the EU has just taken the first step to put some of these ships on a sanctions list and and that’s a step in the right direction but experts like like those in my piece talked about how the us really has a stronger set of sanctions barring any company that would be known to buy this oil from doing business with these ships and with these shipping companies now that’s something that exists on paper but hasn’t been enforced so strongly yet so that’s something that Denmark leading this this effort to do something about the ships would really be looking at because that’s a lot safer than sending your people out to board a Russian ship so what else can be done to stop that ghost Fleet these secondary sanctions on the companies doing business with these shipping companies are really I think the best hope that’s what I heard time and again when I was speaking to people about how you would not be putting humans in danger uh and and also wouldn’t be pegged to any one country so as I pointed out Moscow has already warned Denmark if you try to do something about these ships we’re going to get you and so this would would sort of take Denmark out of the eye of of the bullseye H and and Spread spread the blame but there really needs to be a lot more regulatory efforts and those I talk to really hope that that these concerns now are high enough that there’s really going to be more effort put in put into stopping this transport DW correspondent Terry Schulz there in Brussels thank you very much Terry

Despite a raft sanctions, Russia has continued shipping and selling its crude oil to the world. The Danish straits are a popular transit point for Russian oil, which helps fund Moscows war efforts in Ukraine. Stopping the flow of money depends on stopping these ships, and now the Danish government is facing pressure to take more decisive action.

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