Oil tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” are posing an increasing threat to the Baltic Sea and Germany’s coastline, the environmental organization Greenpeace warned on Monday.
Since mid-June, 188 such tankers have passed along the German coast, transporting millions of tonnes of oil from Russia’s ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, according to Greenpeace.
Of these, 123 tankers are subject to international sanctions, while
27 “ghost ships” are not registered in any shipping database and operate under false flags,
the organization reported.
Seventy of these vessels, used by Russia to evade sanctions, are at least 20 years old and are no longer suitable for the safe transport of oil, Greenpeace emphasized.
The organization’s representative, Thilo Maack, compared the use of these tankers for transporting hazardous cargo to operating unregistered and uninsured trucks.
Maack stressed that Germany’s coastline must be protected from the environmental risks posed by Russia’s shadow fleet.
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