ECOCIDE ЭКОЦИД
Fully Laden Shadow Fleet Tanker Breaks Down in Baltic Storm
On Friday, German response authorities had to deploy multiple tugs to rescue a broken-down shadow fleet tanker laden with Russian oil, sparking a small political furor.
According to Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, the Eventin - formerly part of the Fractal Marine DMCC fleet - was under way from Russia to Egypt with about 100,000 tonnes of crude oil aboard. Off the coast of Ruegen, Germany, Eventin lost power and ability to maneuver, and it began to drift.
"It is precisely this scenario that I have repeatedly warned against together with my colleagues from the Baltic region," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday. "Russia is endangering our European security not only with its war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law, but also with severed cables, moved border buoys, disinformation campaigns, GPS jammers, and also with dilapidated oil tankers."
The agency's Accident Command took over overall command of the operation, and it determined that an evacuation of the crew was not immediately necessary. The response vessel Arkona and the salvage tug Bremen Fighter were dispatched to attend to the stricken vessel and halt its drift. The command also put the response tug Bremen on standby and activated a boarding team trained to deploy via helicopter and assist with making a tow connection.
At about 1500 hours, the Bremen Fighter made up a towline to the Eventin and successfully brought the ship's movement under control. However, the salvage was not yet over, and the responders had to contend with the difficult weather conditions of the Baltic in winter. Winds on scene were at Beaufort 7 as of Friday afternoon and were expected to strengthen as high as Beaufort 9 (strong gale, 41-47 knots). To provide additional holding power, two additional tugs, the Bremen and the VB Luca, were chartered by the shipowner to assist. The emergency response tug Baltic has also been ordered to reposition from the western Baltic Sea to a location nearer the scene as a precautionary measure.
19-year-old Eventin is part of the Russia-facing "dark fleet," a pool of hundreds of anonymously-held tankers of high average age and uncertain governance. The vessel was owned by a reputable Norwegian tanker firm until after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when it was sold to an anonymous holding company in the UAE, Vaigai Lines.
After its sale in August 2022, its new commercial operator was Fractal Marine DMCC, the Dubai-based tanker firm that was an early leader in providing alternative shipping services to Russian oil exporters after the invasion of Ukraine. Under Fractal Marine DMCC's control, Eventin frequently navigated to and from Russian oil ports, often disabling its AIS, according to OpenSanctions.org.
In early 2024, Fractal Marine DMCC was sanctioned by the UK government for "operating in the Russian energy sector as part of Putin's shadow fleet." The company insisted that it was fully compliant with all regulations, but was unsuccessful in appealing the sanctions listing and liquidated its assets one month later.
On February 22, 2024 - the same day that UK sanctions on Fractal Marine DMCC were announced - Vaigai Lines took over as Eventin's operator, removing Fractal's name from the vessel's management record. Vaigai then resold the vessel to another anonymous single-vessel holding company, Laliya Shipping Corp, which has no listed address.
Eventin's ISM manager remains Wanta Shipping LLC, a firm with multiple ties to the former Fractal fleet. The vessel continued to call Russian oil loading ports as recently as this month, immediately prior to its breakdown in the Baltic. Eventin remains insured and classed by reputable Western entities.
Though linked to Russia's oil export trade, Eventin, Vaigai, Laliya and Wanta are not named on international sanctions lists. As these firms are not officially blacklisted, private salvors may safely contract with them for Eventin's rescue, without the need to seek prior exemptions.
Dark Fleet Tanker Might Have Damaged More Subsea Lines if Not Stopped
Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has found and recovered the missing anchor from the "dark fleet" tanker Eagle S, which is suspected of severing four subsea telecom cables and a high-voltage power cable in the Baltic on Christmas Day. The next step in the investigation is to determine when it came loose - before or after the authorities asked the Eagle S to raise the anchor it was dragging on the bottom.
On Dec. 25, Fingrid's EstLink 2 power transmission cable and four subsea telecom cables suddenly broke down. The outages corresponded to the position of the tanker Eagle S; Finland dispatched a police tactical team in a helicopter and asked Eagle S to divert, and the crew agreed to comply.
In a sonar survey after the casualty, a drag line of about 50 nautical miles in length was found on the bottom. Eagle S' anchor was discovered at the end of the line, near the Porkkala Peninsula, and Swedish military salvors helped raise it to the surface on Sunday night.
Track of the anchor drag line and the location of the lost anchor (sonar image courtesy NBI)
The location where the damaged anchor was recovered happened to be near the place where Finnish authorities instructed Eagle S to raise her anchor. This is of interest to the authorities, as it raises questions about whether the incident could have been worse without government intervention. The tanker's onward route would have passed over the Estlink 1 power cable, as well as the Balticconnector gas line.
"If the anchor only came loose during the hoisting, it is likely that the anchor could have caused further damage to the seabed infrastructure if the vessel had continued its journey," Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of the National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
New images released by the NBI show that the anchor's crown is cracked, and its flukes are much shorter than typical. Previous photos of the Eagle S - taken in years past, when she operated under a previous name - show that the tanker was originally equipped with normal Hall- or Speck-type anchors, like most merchant ships.
Courtesy NBI
