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More than a dozen ships are delivering Russian crude oil directly to European ports despite the ban. This is shown by research by Report Mainz. Environmentalists warn of an oil spill in the Baltic Sea.
Nina Noelle is sitting in an orange rubber dinghy floating in the Baltic Sea, around 20 kilometers off the coast of the Darß peninsula. In her hand she holds a buoy about 50 centimeters in size, which is equipped with a small flag and a GPS tracking device. She slowly releases the buoy into the Baltic Sea, followed by others. The activist from the environmental organization Greenpeace wants to find out in which direction a potential oil slick would spread.
According to Greenpeace, the risk of an oil disaster in the Baltic Sea is increasing – especially because of the increasing number of tankers loaded with Russian crude oil traveling through the so-called Kadetrine. This shipping route is narrow and busy and is therefore considered particularly dangerous. It runs a few kilometers from the German coast, from the Darß peninsula in the east to Fehmarn in the west.
“We are here today to use these transmitters to see what consequences and effects an accident here in the Kadetrinne would have on the ecosystem in the Baltic Sea,” explains Noelle. “So where would the oil be distributed, on which beaches would it wash up. And how polluted would the nature reserve in which we are currently located be?” A few days later the results are available. Accordingly, coastal sections from Fehmarn to Eckernförde would be most affected by an oil accident in the Kadetrinne.
Russia resorts to shadow fleet
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, an increasing number of tankers with Russian crude oil on board have been sailing through the Baltic Sea. They are part of the so-called Shadow Fleet. These are ships that help Russia export crude oil – sometimes illegally by circumventing EU sanctions. Because Russia can no longer use its own ships so easily. So dubious tankers from exotic countries are used, whose owners often remain hidden.
Schleswig-Holstein's Environment Minister, Tobias Goldschmidt, is also worried about the many tankers in the Baltic Sea. But as state minister, he couldn't do much about the dangerous fleet: “Ultimately, it's a task for the nation states to influence what happens on the Baltic Sea in international waters. As Environment Minister, I'm primarily there to prevent any oil spills to combat and take precautions.”
More and more oil tankers in the Baltic Sea
According to a current data analysis by Greenpeace, almost 1,000 oil tankers passed through the Baltic Sea last year, more than ever before. According to its own information, the environmental protection organization used data from the British Lloyd's List Intelligence for its evaluation. The company is considered a specialist in monitoring and analyzing international shipping traffic.
According to the data, 539 tankers were recorded in the first seven months of 2024, compared to 290 in the same period in 2021. It is also understandable that more and more old ships are traveling there.
Oil tankers violate EU sanctions
Some of the fleet violates current EU sanctions, according to research by Report Mainz show. According to GPS data, some ships that were suspected of loading Russian crude oil and departed from Russian Baltic Sea ports headed directly to ports in the EU to pump out the crude oil there.
The fact that tankers carrying Russian oil have been heading directly to ports in the EU for a few weeks now Report Mainz document multiple times. This violates current EU sanctions: Russian crude oil transport by ship to the EU has been banned since March 2023. Ships from Greek shipping companies, some of which are part of the shadow fleet, were involved in the transports.
Report Mainz for example, was able to turn the tanker “Calida” in the oil port of Augusta. It left Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea in Russia on August 23, 2024 and arrived in Augusta, Italy on September 11, 2024. According to satellite data, after its stop in Augusta, its draft was 5.8 meters less – evidence that it was completely or partially pumped empty.
European ports visited
Using satellite data, the reporters have been able to observe around 15 tankers since July 2024 that were heading directly to European ports from the Russian Baltic Sea ports of Primorsk, Ust Luga and the oil port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea.
The draft showed that the ships were pumped full in the Russian oil ports and left heavily loaded. After arriving in the destination ports, the draft of this tanker also decreased by several meters. The ships, which are around 250 meters long, can each transport more than 150 million liters of crude oil.
EU Commission assumes responsibility member states
The research showed that the destinations were primarily Italian ports such as Trieste or Augusta, and a few ports in Croatia, France or Spain. When asked, the EU Commission did not want to comment on possible sanctions violations by the shipping companies or tankers observed; monitoring EU sanctions is the responsibility of the member states. The responsible Italian customs authority left several inquiries about the ship observations unanswered.
The Greek shipping company TMS Tankers Ltd., whose ships were involved in several transports of Russian crude oil, also left an inquiry about possible sanctions violations unanswered. The shipping company has been criticized several times in the past for transporting Russian oil, including from Ukrainian sanctions experts.
Federal Government wants to sanction more oil tankers
At the end of June, the EU states decided on sanctions against individual oil tankers for the first time in their 14th sanctions package against Russia. Upon request from Report Mainz The Foreign Office says that more ships will be added to the sanctions list in the future. To this end, we are currently in close coordination with the G7 and EU partners. The ministry has information about possible violations of import restrictions regarding Russian crude oil or crude oil products.
