Part of an investigation
This article is a part of the investigation The Shadow Fleet
- According to experts and politicians, the Russian shadow fleet is Russia's response to Western sanctions. Ships transport oil from Russia without Western authorities being able to monitor what's happening. This way, the oil can be sold for more than what the sanction-imposed price cap allows.
- The shadow fleet consists mainly of older tankers that have been purchased over the past two years by companies that are difficult to scrutinize. They almost exclusively transport Russian oil and are registered in countries outside the EU and G7 nations.
- The ships typically have opaque ownership structures and unknown, questionable, or non-Western insurance, such as Russian insurance companies. This has led to British and American sanctions specifically naming several Russian insurance companies.
- The ships often sail under flags of countries with less oversight, such as Cameroon or the military dictatorship of Gabon in Africa, but they can also operate under flags of countries like Panama, Liberia, Vietnam, and others. The ships frequently change names and flags because they often change owners. According to experts, this is done to obscure the trail to the actual owners.
- These large tankers sail through Denmark and the Great Belt daily, as it's the only route out for fully loaded tankers coming from the major Russian oil ports around St. Petersburg.
- Government leaders like Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have identified the shadow fleet as a major concern and a problem that the West must address. Therefore, NATO ships have been deployed in the Baltic Sea to monitor and protect the area from oil disasters and sabotage of undersea cables.
- Sources: Lloyd's List Intelligence, CREA, Kyiv School of Economics, OFSI, OFAC
Since February, Denmark has been inspecting tankers that have docked at the large anchorage off Skagen.
This is part of a larger effort against Russia’s notorious dark fleet, which Danwatch has previously described.
New figures now show that the authorities have been busy. A total of 79 tankers were inspected at Skagen Roads, and four of the inspections resulted in the ships being detained.
This information was provided to Danwatch by the Danish Maritime Authority. One of the ships is the Vietnamese tanker Vigo, which according to data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence is part of the Russian dark fleet. The ship was detained on April 22 and still remains at the anchorage.
Martin John, head of inspection at the Danish Maritime Authority, is responsible for the inspections and explains that very serious defects were found on Vigo, making it dangerous for the crew to continue sailing.
“There were defects in fire and safety equipment, nautical charts were not updated, there were technical faults with equipment and toilets, and many other issues. There were serious defects on board, so we detained the ship”, he says.
Martin John emphasizes that it is very rare for authorities to see ships in such poor condition.
“We have detained a total of four ships, but none of them can be compared to Vigo. Our approach is that one detention is one too many, and we do not accept ships in poor condition”, he says.
The ships will only be permitted to sail again once the current problems have been repaired.
Few Dark Fleet Vessels Affected by Targeted Effort
A review of data from the European authority database Paris MoU shows that only nine of the 79 inspections at Skagen’s anchorage have been directed at ships from the dark fleet.
Following the announcement of inspections against the dark fleet in February, most of the shady tankers started avoiding the anchorage, which was previously a hub for oil vessels travelling to and from Russia.
Instead, some of the dark fleet vessels positioned themselves a bit further away from Skagen Roads or sailed through Europe without stopping.
This is shown by several months of data from MarineTraffic, which Danwatch has reviewed. The Danish Maritime Authority does not monitor ship traffic passing Skagen, and therefore they do not know how many ships now sail around the area, says Martin John.
But at the University of Copenhagen, there is someone who knows a great deal about the dark fleet’s sailing patterns: Yevgeniy Golovchenko, who is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science.
He has conducted several major data projects on the dark fleet and the ships’ routes, and he actually sees the effort as a positive story, even though it hasn’t affected many of the shady tankers.
“The fight against the dark fleet is primarily about making their operations more expensive and much more difficult. This way, Russia can export less oil per day and thus earn less money for its war machine”, he says.
Therefore, it’s a good thing if the inspections scare ships away from the anchorage at Skagen, because they can no longer be serviced by companies at the port, he elaborates.
“Such deterrence would be a relatively good result, as it will complicate – and possibly delay – the dark fleet’s operations. It is crucial that other countries follow suit, so that the journey becomes difficult for the dark fleet all the way past Europe – and not just at Skagen”.
Crew Trapped on Detained Ship
The crew of the Vigo have been on the anchored tanker a short distance from Skagen for four months since it was detained.
It has not been possible for the crew to leave the ship. During this period, the crew have received food and other deliveries while working to fix the many defects.
The authorities state that they have checked all information including ownership and insurance, and that they have not found anything suspicious.
Vigo was therefore allowed to continue sailing on August 5 but is still anchored in Denmark. According to Martin John, this may be because it is waiting to be able to sail to a shipyard in Vietnam.
Nationwide, the Danish Maritime Authority conducts approximately 500 inspections annually in Danish ports.
Here, the number of detentions is roughly comparable to the new inspections of tankers, according to the Danish Maritime Authority.
It has not been possible for Danwatch to contact the owner of Vigo.
