UK leads Europe with clampdown of shadow fleet passing through the English Channel

The UK yesterday started what could be the beginning of a greater Europe-wide scrutiny of Russia’s dark fleet while in Asia one of Moscow’s top oil clients, India, has also come out with new guidance taking aim at substandard tonnage. 

As well as unveiling its latest package of sanctions yesterday, the UK said it was taking further steps to combat what it described as “malign”, Russian-backed maritime activity near the UK. 

The raft of announcements yesterday come at a time when one Russian-linked ship has been making plenty of headlines in the UK press.

The Ruby, a controversial Russia-linked bulk carrier loaded with a potentially explosive cargo of 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, has been lying off the southeast coast of the UK this month, requiring repairs with many European countries denying the vessel entry.

The UK often announces its actions against Russian-linked ships just ahead of similar moves from the European Union and attention will now turn to whether other countries in the continent will enact similar measures.

Littoral states around the Baltic have been discussing how they can clamp down on ageing tankers carrying Russian oil, sharing their thoughts in recent months with counterparts in the UK. 

The Danish government has been in discussions with neighbours for months looking at ways of barring some of Russia’s shadow fleet from transiting the Baltic Sea, something that gained added importance following a collision involving a laden Russian shadow tanker earlier this year.

Russia sends about a third of its seaborne oil exports through the Danish straits with around one in three of these ships having unknown insurance. 

The UK also unveiled fresh sanctions against 18 Russian oil tankers and four LNG carriers yesterday, the largest British sanctions action to date against Russia’s shadow fleet with Sovcomflot, Russia’s top shipping line, at the centre of the latest sanctions package. 

The oil tankers targeted yesterday have transported $4.9bn of cargoes in the last year alone, according to UK estimates.

At the European Political Community Summit in July, Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, announced what was described as a shadow fleet call to action. Yesterday, the US and Canada said they had joined 44 European countries in this collaborative effort to tackle the risks posed by the shadow fleet. 

The call to action urges all member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prevent illegal operations in the maritime sector by the shadow fleet.

Signatories to the movement have called on flag states to ensure that ships flying their flag adhere to highest possible safety and pollution prevention requirements and best practices while port states are asked to ensure the enforcement of the safety and liability conventions on these ships, including those that relate to ship-to-ship transfer operations and the requirement to have on board valid state certificates of insurance.

Signatories have agreed to share information on the practices and operations of the shadow fleet, to coordinate responses to the risks posed by its ships and facilitators, and to work with the private sector and other maritime stakeholders to address the threat.  

In related shadow tanker insurance news, the directorate general of shipping in India, a top buyer of Russian oil, is putting in place new guidelines to ensure all ships calling at the world’s most populous nation have the correct protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance certificates in place.