News / Russian 'dark fleet' an ecological disaster threat, claim Baltic shipowners

Photo: © Boris Lukianov | Dreamstime.com

Operating from a country with views of the port of St Petersburg, the Finnish Shipowners’ Association has called attention to the Russian ‘dark fleet’ – ships that use illicit practices to avoid sanctions on oil – and warned of an “ecological disaster waiting to happen”.

The full complement of the Russian ‘dark fleet’ is unknown, but is estimated to comprise at least 800 vessels. They carry Russian crude oil through the Danish strait and the narrow, shallow, ice-strewn Baltic waters shared by Russia, Finland and the Baltic states.

Despite the Baltic being covered with ice for up to six months of the year, almost none of these vessels is fit to sail in it, explained Carolus Ramsay, head of maritime policy & safety at the association, and a Finnish naval reservist.

In fact, he added, many dark fleet vessels might not be fit to sail at all, as neither insurance, nor IMO inspection regimes apply to them.

“It’s a parallel ecosystem that is not participating in inspection regimes. They don’t have ice class, or ice-strengthened hulls, relying solely on their crews’ ice navigation skills. Ice ridges might be three-to-four metres above the ice, or 20-30 metres below,” explained Mr Ramsay. “So when you drive into a ridge the wrong way, you are driving into a wall.”

And not wishing to be tracked, these vessels sail with AIS off in waters shared with passenger ferries carrying 10 million Finns and Estonians across the channel annually.

The association’s shipowners, representing cargo and passenger vessels alike, “cross their paths, overtake them, sail past them and use the same navigational straits,” added Mr Ramsay.

If this were not bad enough, he said, interference makes satellite navigation impossible for Finnish crews as well – a formidable concern for a country which conducts 96% of its trade by sea.

“The GNSS [Global Navigation Satellite System] interference… is constant in the Gulf of Finland,” he explained.

Mr Ramsay warned that any response to an oil spill would be impossible in floating sea ice, recovery vessels would be unable to navigate effectively among the many islands of Finland’s complex coastal archipelago.

“Ten years ago, we talked about how, if a major incident were to happen in the Gulf of Finland, it would be troublesome, especially in winter. Now, I think many people are secure in the knowledge that it will happen – it is a matter of when. All the ingredients in the soup are ready.

“Even if there were a legal possibility of stopping these ships and inspecting them at sea – which is not possible in international waters – the political aspect would be, I presume, very difficult if you think about who you are meddling with.”