Germany says seized Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ tanker with cargo worth $43 mn

Germany said Friday it is holding an ageing oil tanker that it labelled part of Russia’s sanctions-breaching “shadow fleet” after the vessel lost engine power in January.

News weekly Der Spiegel said the German customs service had seized the vessel and its cargo, but officials declined to confirm this, saying “the customs measures have not yet been legally concluded”.

The report said customs officials had seized the Panama-flagged Eventin, whose cargo is worth 40 million euros ($43 million), last week off the island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea, where it had been anchored since January.

The news magazine said authorities were now working out how and where to safely pump its crude oil and what should happen to the tanker.

Authorities only confirmed the vessel was banned from sailing further.

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“Customs measures are currently underway and, given the current security situation, we cannot comment very extensively on the matter,” said a finance ministry spokesman.

A foreign ministry spokesman however charged that Russia was using such ships “to bypass Western sanctions and thus finance its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine”.

The second spokesman, Sebastian Fischer, said Germany and the European Union were “working tirelessly to impose further sanctions on this Russian shadow fleet”.

Security analysts say Russia is operating hundreds of vessels to dodge the sanctions Western nations imposed on its oil exports over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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The often rusty and obsolete vessels are operating in the Baltic without proper insurance and often have inexperienced crews, triggering fears of accidents and potential oil spills, according to experts.

The Eventin had been seeking to sail from a Russian port to Egypt but became stranded off Ruegen, apparently unable to manoeuvre, according to Der Spiegel.

The EU then listed it as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”.