Putin’s war in Ukraine has led to the almost complete loss of the European energy market by Moscow, which has redirected its exports to other countries, especially Asia. Currently a small NATO country, Denmark faces real danger from Putin’s fleet of shadow oil tankers crossing its coasts. It is only a matter of time before there is a conflict or environmental catastrophe related to Russian ships there.
Russia’s fast-growing shadow fleet, a group of ships whose owners go to great lengths to hide their identities while carrying oil to evade Moscow’s sanctions, could become a serious maritime risk to Denmark and in the Baltic or North Sea area, according to Foreign Policy.
Currently, Russian ships regularly refuse pilotage in Danish waters, the Financial Times reported — a practice that not only violates maritime etiquette, but could also lead to a disastrous accident.
Putin feels that the ground is slipping away from under his feet: Unexpected order given to Russian companies, plus an arrangement with the Arabs
International maritime rules strongly recommend the use of pilots with specialized local knowledge for most ships sailing through Denmark’s Great Belt, a country of only 6 million people, the narrow passage between the country’s largest islands.
The Great Belt maritime area is not only narrow, but also has treacherous waters and is extremely congested: every year, around 70,000 ships pass through the Great Belt and the nearby Oresund Sound, which lies between the coasts of Denmark and Sweden . It is common practice to follow international maritime guidelines and employ an experienced local pilot when it comes to difficult navigation routes, be it the Great Belt or the Suez Canal.
For the sake of maritime order and safety, Copenhagen could block ships that refuse pilotage. This, however, could trigger a conflict with Russia – if Moscow recognizes its role as the shadow fleet’s patron.
The discovery that terrifies people: Something from the air enters the body and causes heart attacks and strokes
Indeed, blocking these offending ships would itself violate international maritime rules. However, before forcing such a choice, the open source intelligence community could help by revealing the identities and whereabouts of the shadow ship owners.
Since the beginning of this year, at least 20 tankers suspected of being shadow vessels carrying Russian oil have refused to take Danish pilots on board, according to internal reports provided to the Financial Times and Danish research group Danwatch.
That is, at least 20 tankers that sailed through the Baltic Sea – in most cases through the Gulf of Finland, passing through the exclusive economic zones of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Germany – into Danish waters and the Great Belt, from where they traveled in the Kattegat (comprising Danish and Swedish waters) and Skagerrak (Danish and Norwegian waters) and in the North Sea and oceans, will take Russian oil to their buyers in countries such as India and China.
Shock move by a Putin-friendly country: Closes the door on Russia and switches to doing business with the US
The risk that these and other ghost ships pose to coastal states is further heightened by the fact that they fly the flags of countries that are unlikely to come to anyone’s aid if they cause accidents, incidents or environmental disasters.
Add to that the fact that their owners are hard to track down and lack adequate insurance. If a shadow vessel suffered a massive oil spill in, say, Finnish waters, Finnish authorities and taxpayers would be at a standstill.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s often successful attempts to evade sanctions have seen its shadow fleet grow. It is currently believed to comprise around 1,400 vessels, although, like all illicit activities, it is impossible to measure precisely.
