COPENHAGEN — A tanker from the shadow fleet of ships assembled to carry Russian oil was involved in a collision near Denmark on March 2, casting fresh light on the risks vessels with unknown ownership pose to the world’s oceans, Bloomberg reported.
The incident involving the 15-year-old oil tanker Andromeda Star is still under investigation, the Danish Maritime Authority said in a statement, without giving further details.
The vessel had been scheduled to load Russia’s flagship Urals crude on March 4 at the Baltic port of Primorsk, according to shipping information compiled by Bloomberg. Instead, it sailed to a repair yard in Denmark, where it arrived on March 17.
Though there’s no sign of a major environmental impact from the collision, it’s another reminder of the risks the shadow fleet poses to the waters of even those European countries that are no longer engaged in trade with Moscow.
Denmark allows ships calling at Russia to sail through its waters due to a longstanding freedom of navigation treaty.
The ship is managed by a company called Margao Marine Solutions OPC, based in Goa, India. The vessel’s insurers aren’t known and it isn’t listed as being covered on the website of the industry-standard International Group of P&I Clubs, which offers protection against risks such as spills and collisions.
The owners of the Andromeda Star are listed on multiple marine databases — including one maintained for the International Maritime Organization — as “reported sold undisclosed interest,” indicating the vessel’s true owners aren’t publicly known.
Russia built out the shadow fleet to keep its oil exports flowing following a raft of sanctions from the U.S., the European Union and the Group of Seven Nations. Some industry estimates have said the fleet amounts to as many as 600 vessels.
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