Jan. 11 (UPI) — German maritime authorities said Saturday they are towing a disabled oil tanker in the Baltic Sea thought to be part of Russia’s clandestine “shadow fleet” used to evade Western sanctions.
Germany’s Havariekommando, or Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, told German media it is employing three tug boats to the tow the stricken tanker Eventin about 15 miles to the harbor of Sassnitz, where it is expected to arrive Sunday.
The progress was reported to be very slow due to waves of up to 13 feet and storm-force winds on the Baltic. The vessel is also very heavy, loaded with almost 100,000 tons of oil.
The Eventin lost engine and navigation power near the German island of Rügen and now needs to be brought to harbor for safety reasons, although there is currently no environmental threat from the vessel, the CCME said.
The 810-foot tanker, built in 2006, was sailing under a Panamanian flag while traveling from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Egypt’s Port Said, according to the ship tracking platform Vesselfinder.
The environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace has identified it as part of the “shadow fleet” of ships Russia is using to try to circumvent Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
Greenpeace says the fleet of 192 aging tankers carrying Russian oil around the world represent a threat to environment.
“Of the 192 ships, 171 have passed through the German Baltic Sea and the area of the Kadet Channel in the Mecklenburg Bight at least once in the last two years,” Greenpeace reported this year. “All the tankers are old, many have technical defects, have temporarily switched off their automatic identification systems or have transferred their cargo to other tankers at sea — a particularly risky maneuver.”
An accident in the Kadet Channel would put the entire German Baltic coast at risk, they warned, adding, “All tankers are inadequately insured against the consequences of an oil spill — taxpayers would have to pay to repair any damage.”
