Russia transporting oil through Gulf of Finland on unseaworthy tankers

Russia's "shadow fleet" is transporting oil through the Gulf of Finland on unseaworthy tankers.

Source: Finnish public service media company Yle

Details: Yle’s journalists found that about 600 tankers carrying Russian oil passed through the Gulf of Finland between January and May 2024. Almost half of them – 283 – belonged to the shadow fleet.

Many of the tankers had visited Russian oil ports several times during this period.

The investigation also showed that in the spring, a blacklisted oil tanker passed through the Gulf of Finland every two weeks.

If a vessel is blacklisted, it means that it is in poor condition or has such serious defects that it is not allowed to operate.

Vessels can be put on the black list by the independent maritime inspection organisation Paris MoU. 

Apart from the fact that many oil tankers have substandard insurance, they may also be old. Nearly seven out of ten oil tankers plying the Gulf of Finland are 15 or more years old.

It is difficult to stop the movement of tankers picking up Russian oil in the Russian oil harbours of Ust-Luga and Primorsk Port at the far end of the Gulf of Finland.

The flag state or the port state can only intervene if a ship enters the harbour, and oil tankers carrying Russian oil avoid Baltic Sea ports.

Background: Russian companies have upped insurance for oil cargo travelling to India to 60%, meaning they can sell oil priced higher than the US$60 price cap imposed by the G7.

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