EU bans 27 ships from its ports in fresh crackdown on Russia trade

The European Union has blacklisted individual ships for the first time, with 27 tankers, heavylift and cargo vessels included in its latest package of sanctions.

The ships, which include Sovcomflot tankers and shadow fleet vessels shuffled between Dubai-based managers, will be banned from EU ports and from using its services, said the EU.

SCF Group CEO Igor Tonkovidov has also been sanctioned.

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The majority of the ships on the list are tankers, including some that were renamed after appearing on a list of 14 SCF Group tankers designated by the US in February.

They included the 105,900-dwt aframax Kaliningrad (ex-NS Captain, built 2006), the 105,700-dwt Kemerovo (ex-NS Columbus, built 2007) and the 105,800-dwt Krasnoyarsk (ex-NS Creation, built 2007).

The EU said the ships were designated for a range of activities, including moving Russian military equipment, hauling stolen Ukrainian grain and LNG components, or for breaching the oil price cap. The ships targeted are all flagged outside of the EU.

“In this first round of listings, the EU has placed 27 vessels on this list,” the European Commission said. “This list can be updated as regularly as needed to address the ever-evolving involvement of those vessels helping Russia to wage war against Ukraine.”

The list included three tankers blacklisted by the UK earlier this month, the 53,100-dwt product tanker Canis Power (built 2005), the 113,000-dwt Ocean Amz (built 2008) and the 106,500-dwt Robon (built 1997).

The Canis Power lost power in a busy shipping lane off the coast of Denmark with 340,000 barrels of Russian oil on board in May 2023.

It had been managed by Dubai-based ship manager Radiating World Shipping Services but switched to Almuhit Alhadi Marine Services after the incident, according to ownership database Equasis.

The Ocean Amz was previously managed by Star Voyages Shipping Services of Dubai, which is based in the same office as Radiating World Shipping Services. Both ship managers were designated by the UK in December 2023.

Another of the tankers on the list, the 116,000-dwt Andromeda Star (built 2009), was involved in a collision in the Danish Strait on a ballast leg to load Russian crude at Primorsk.

The Andromeda Star was taken to a shipyard at Lindo where the inspection was carried out before the vessel was released and subsequently loaded 730,000 barrels of Urals crude. The ship was listed as owned and managed by Seychelles-based Algae Marine.

Scandinavian leaders have warned about the potential for accidents at the narrow shipping chokepoint and the serious implications of any spills from vessels with inadequate insurance.

Investigators found documents on board suggesting it had protection and indemnity cover with Gard, but the insurer confirmed it was not providing cover at the time of the accident.

Sanctions experts believe the blacklisting of individual ships has been the most effective measure targeting Russia’s seaborne trade.

The US has blacklisted 41 tankers since October 2023, with one since removed from the list, and the UK has designated four tankers and two cargo vessels.

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The latest EU measures include ships that were under the management of companies previously targeted by Western sanctions regimes but proved ineffective in halting the shadow fleet trade in Russian oil.

The package, the EU’s 14th, also includes measures banning the transshipment of Russian LNG from EU territory to third countries after a nine-month transition period.

The bloc said it would also prohibit new investments for the completion of LNG projects under construction, such as the flagship Arctic LNG 2 project.

The list includes two giant floating storage units — the 361,600-cbm Saam FSU and Koryak FSU — that were put in place in Ura Bay off Murmansk and and Bechevinskaya Bay off Kamchatka Peninsula to serve the project.

Also on the list on Monday are three heavylift vessels accused of supplying equipment for the project that were blacklisted by the US in May.

The 25,000-dwt heavylift vessel Hunter Star (built 2018) is operated by Hong Kong’s CFU Shipping, while the 28,900-dwt Audax and 28,800-dwt Pugnax (both built 2016) were operated by Singapore-based Red Box Energy Services.

Red Box CEO Philip Adkins stepped down after the authorities in Singapore refused him a visa for the city-state.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the measures are part of efforts to prevent the circumvention of existing EU measures.