| Event Name: | Russian Ghost Fleet |
| Cause: | Sanctions by US and Europe against Russia |
| Motive: | gaining Euro and US-Dollar, provide own and proxy troops with arnament |
| Location: | International, largely in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Aegean Sea and Coast of Levanthe |
| Date: | 2021–present |
| Result: |
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The Russian Ghost Fleet is a fleet of ships, which selling russian oil and LNG on the world’s markets by circumventing regulations on maritime transit and sanctions. The fleet ist a tool of the Russian government to gain money and support it troops and proxis. As a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several states including the U.S. and EU member states imposed economic sanctions against Russia. Vortexa estimated that Russian Tankers are transferring about 1m barrels per month of Russian oil by ship-to-ship transfers only in the Aegean Sea off Greece.
Beside trade with russian oil and gas, Russia is maintaing waht NATO called the ‘Syria Express’, a fleet of civilian cargo ships allegedly transporting military materiel from the Russian bases in Syria to the Ukraine frontline. The russian ghost fleet is estimated of 1.400 ships at sea.
The sanctions on goods aim to reduce Russian revenues, targeting the main source of Russian export: oil. By enforcing a cap on oil prices, it is legally difficult for Russian companies to sell their oil at less than $60 per barrel.[1] Western maritime insurers cannot insure oil shipments from Russia without risking sanctions. To profit from this lucrative market, both oil and insurance companies, alongside Russia, going to ghost or shadow vessels to keep transporting and selling oil on the world’s markets.
The case of the Russian cargo ship Sparta IV (IMO: 9743033) illustrated, how Russia is using it´s Ghost fleet to supply allies and own troops with weapons. Sparta IV, declared as a commercial vessel, get known for transporting armaments between Russia and Syria. The vessel is known, along with others, as part of the ‘Syria Express’, a fleet of civilian cargo ships allegedly transporting military materiel from the Russian bases in Syria to the Ukraine frontline. In the past, they may have breached the Montreux Convention. In May 2024 it has utilized a route via Gibraltar to avoid the threat posed by Ukrainian maritime drones, circumventing the Black Sea.[2] [3]
The russian ghost fleet consists of old vessels mostly without proper insurance, undetermined ownership and sailing under a convenience flag. Ghost fleets are also used by Iran, North Korea and Venezuela to counter Western sanctions, but the scale of the Russian ghost fleet is unprecedented with an estimate of 1.400 ships at sea by 2024.[4] Some expert estimate, that Russian company had bought about 2000 tanker since the start of the Invasion in Ukraine.[5]
Initially, public attention was focused on old tankers directly chartered by Russia. These vessels were essentially owned by Russia's public hydrocarbon product shipping company Sovcomflot, insured by non-Western companies and sailing under obscure conditions and a high risk for maritime safety. Sovcomflot was quickly sanctioned as well,[6] shortly followed by Sun Ship Management, a Dubai-based shipowner that had tried to discreetly take over its ships, in the spring of 2022.[7] Since then, new ghost fleets have either come to support or taken over the task of transporting Russian oil and hydrocarbon products. The ships have been operating off the notice of governments and companies specializing in ocean surveillance.
The Financial Times reports that shipping companies with ties to Russia have bought dozens of ships. These companies are often based in the United Arab Emirates. The ships often sail under the flags of Kamerun, Panama, Liberia, Gabon or an pacific siland state.[8]
U.S oil giant Exxon Mobil had chartered one of the tankers the U.S. imposed sanctions on, the aframax Yasa Golden Bosphorus (IMO: 9334038). In April 2024 the US Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Yasa Golden Bosporus after six months it was designated for allegedly breaching the G7 price cap on Russian oil shipments.[9]
The ship-to-ship transfers are used to launder oil, fish or other goods at sea and blur the actual origin of a shipment and is used on a regular term by russian based tankers.
As of 2023, the Laconian Gulf in the far south of Greece was considered a popular transshipment point for Russian oil. The preferred location for STS transfers had been until then the Messenian Gulf but that changed when the government in 2021 extended its territorial waters 12 miles into that Gulf.[10] In June 2023 a detailed study was published by Geollect on STS transfers by Russian vessels.[11] Reuters reported that cargoes were loaded in Russia’s Black Sea ports of Taman and Tuapse for transshipment to other ships in the northern Aegean. In April 2024 a meticulous study followed the MV Ligera as it received from the MV Nautilus a shipment of oil from the Baltic Port of Ust-Luga, and then a shipment of oil on MV Blue from the Port of Novorossyisk on the Black Sea.[12]
Vortexa estimated that the Tankers are transferring about 1m barrels per month of Russian oil in the Aegean Sea off Greece.[13]
In early May 2024 the Russian "base" had moved south to the western shore of Kythira.[14] The Greek navy had exercised nearby in the same waters and this sent a signal that the Russians were unwelcome in the Laconian Gulf,[15] [16] but by 20 May at least seven tankers returned when the Navy exercises ended.[17] In June 2024 Greece government said, Hellenic Navy will interrupt ship-to-ship transfers in hellenic waters. These notice have sent Russian-trading tankers to new locations in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and off West Africa since than.[18] By June 2024 the STS transfers moved to offshore Morocco,[19] near the city of Nador at the eastern end of mediterranean Morocco, but another report had this oil originating in Primorsk.
The ghost fleets is increasing the probability of incidents at sea, endangering other seafarers and the environment. By turning off their AIS, traveling at night without radars and monitor satellites, the risc of an accident is much higher. A collision with an oil tanker is endangering the crew of both boats which may subsequently result in oil spills, threatening environmental security. The often old age of ghost oil tankers is also increasing the probability of technical issues that can lead to malfunctions of the engines. Insurance in the event of collisions, environmental damage or attacks is mandatory for commercial vessels. At least 90 percent of this insurance market is covered by providers from the EU or UK - countries that are no longer allowed to insure Russian ships due to the sanctions.
Ship-to-ship transfers in themselves are also dangerous practice, especially when occurring in the high seas.