An aframax tanker put on a US blacklist on 18 January for violating the Western price cap scheme on seaborne Russian oil caused a traffic halt in the Bosphorus for more than eight hours on Sunday.
Crossings were temporarily suspended in both directions in the waterway, Turkey’s directorate general of coastal safety, known as KEGM, announced on X at 12:01 local time (10:01 GMT).
Ship traffic resumed in the south-north direction at about 20:00 local time.
Turkish authorities took the measure after the 114,800-dwt Peria (built 2006) lost an anchor at Kecilik Bay.
Vessel trackers indicate that this occurred near the northern entrance of the Bosphorus — a key waterway that cuts through Istanbul and links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara.
According to KEGM, the Peria was underway from Russia to the Turkish port of Izmir. Vessel trackers and ship data providers show it loaded an oil cargo in Novorossiysk on 9 January.
The ship is listed under the management of United Arab Emirates-based Hennesea Tankers. As such, it is included in a list of 18 of the company’s tankers put under sanctions by the US administration just three days ago.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control accused the company of breaching the oil price cap that the G7 imposed on commercial vessels shipping Russian oil.
Managers of Hennesea Tankers were not available to comment at the time and are not known to have publicly responded to the US action since.
A frequent occurrence
Ship engine failure and other accidents often occur during Turkish Straits crossings. The country’s authorities usually respond quickly, dispatching tugs to remove the stricken vessels and tow them to a safe location.
Two tug boats were immediately deployed to assist the Peria. By about 14:00 GMT, MarineTraffic data showed the tanker and two tugs slowly moving in a southern direction while no other commercial cargo ships were sailing up or down the Bosphorus.
About two hours later, the Peria had left the Bosphorus and by 16:50 GMT it was at the Yesilkoy anchorage in the Sea of Marmara.
Ships involved in Russian trades have often been involved in such incidents, raising local concerns about their safety after the US and its allies imposed restrictions on their finance and insurance.
Turkish Straits traffic had also been briefly suspended in September after a product tanker initially with India’s Gatik — another company involved in the trade — suffered an engine failure as it was carrying a Russian oil cargo through the Dardanelles.
