The situation in the Gulf of Finland seems worrying. The risk of environmental damage has increased, says the commander captain Tuomas Luukkonen From the Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland.
– We don’t have any individual findings that would directly support the claim, but according to the assessment, there has been a change in the profile of maritime traffic in the Gulf of Finland from Western shipping companies’ fleets to other types, Luukkonen tells STT.
STT asked the Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland for a situational picture of maritime traffic, especially of tankers carrying Russian oil that operate from the ports of the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. At the time of the interview, Luukkonen works in the Gulf of Finland as deputy commander in the Coast Guard and emphasizes that he is talking about the situation in the area of responsibility “on a general level”.
The situational picture is created from the national and international exchange of information with other maritime actors and from the daily monitoring of the situation, which, according to Luukkonen, the Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland intensified a year ago after Russia started the war in Ukraine.
The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard’s area of responsibility extends from Hanko to the eastern Gulf of Finland, the sea border between Finland and Russia. In addition to border surveillance, key tasks include sea rescue and environmental damage prevention, as well as crisis preparedness.
– We have the leading responsibility for combating environmental damage at sea, so that is why we are interested in the traffic of merchant ships and oil tankers in the Gulf of Finland.
At the beginning of the war of aggression, the amount of sea traffic departing from and heading to Russia dropped in the Gulf of Finland, but according to Luukkonen, it returned to the pre-war level by the summer.
– About 60–80 tankers carrying oil alone pass by every week, and other merchant ships on both sides of a hundred.
Even though the volume of Russian oil traffic in the Gulf of Finland seems normal, the quality of the vessels operating is now of interest.
Bans and sanctions are circumvented with scrap tankers
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost gulf of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia. The eastern parts of the bay belong to Russia, and the ports in the bay are extremely important for its oil business. The meaning has only become stronger after the war, says the professor of environmental politics in Russia Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen from the University of Helsinki.
– The export prospects for Russian gas in the near future are pretty grim, when pipes have been blown up and European countries have reduced gas purchases. The importance of oil is emphasized because Russia is able to export it to the world by tankers. India in particular has bought significantly more Russian oil than before, says Tynkkynen in a phone interview with STT.
The expert estimates that before the war of aggression, up to half of the budget income of the Russian state came from oil and gas, in the best years a third from oil alone.
– Russia is a resource-based economy that depends on the export of raw materials.
The president has been seen talking about Russia’s oil income during the war of aggression Vladimir Putin as war chest. The import ban of the European Union and the price ceiling set by Western countries for Russian crude oil are rated (you switch to another service) costing Russia 160 million euros per day. Russia is predicted to lose export earnings even more when the bans and the cap are extended to Russian oil products at the beginning of February.
At the end of last year, for example Financial Times (you will switch to another service), Bloomberg (you will switch to another service) and Reuters (you will switch to another service) reported that Russia is assembling a so-called shadow fleet in its oil traffic to circumvent the price ceiling and sanctions. The price ceiling means the maximum price for the price of Russian oil that tankers are allowed to transport and insurance companies insure.
“Shadow fleet” refers to Russia’s faded tankers, whose financing and insurance are from other countries than Western countries that have imposed sanctions. Since Russia’s own equipment is not sufficient, it has to rely on shady actors who are not deterred by sanctions and whose end-of-life scrap tankers are so and so suitable to sail in the winter conditions of the Baltic Sea.
– There hasn’t been a compelling need for a shadow fleet yet, because the price of Russian Urals crude oil has fallen below the price ceiling, which is 60 bucks per barrel. Russia has been able to use Greek oil tankers with insurance from British companies, Tynkkynen says.
– But the price can rise and the situation can change. Then Russia needs dark business and tankers, the value of which before February of last year was zero. In any case, Russia still faces difficulties with its exports.
The abilities of the crew are worrying
Talks about Russia’s so-called shadow fleet are of course known in the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard. Tuomas Luukkonen reminds that the phenomenon is not only about old and poorly maintained tankers, which undoubtedly increase the risk of an oil accident.
– According to our observations, oil traffic continues partly with the same tanker fleet as before, but the ownership of the vessels is ambiguities or attempts are being made to hide it.
Luukkonen cannot go into more detail about the mechanism by which the information was obtained, but it would seem that not all ships have a valid ice classification anymore. The ice rating refers to the ship’s ability to survive in difficult ice conditions.
– However, according to our supervision, until now all tankers have had a double bottom, which is relevant from the point of view of a possible accident and a prerequisite for operating in the Baltic Sea region.
Due to the mild winter, the ice conditions in the Gulf of Finland have been easy so far. Even if the sea were solidly frozen, Finnish icebreakers would not assist Russian oil tankers or any other traffic, because it is no longer heading towards Finland.
– Of course, for safety reasons, we would help in that situation if a ship were in trouble after getting stuck or drifting with moving ice, says the leading maritime expert of the Norwegian Norwegian Railways Agency responsible for ice breaking Jarkko Toivola.
– Even in emergency situations, we do not allow traffic, but we assist the ship to a safe place back to where it came from.
The sea area of the Gulf of Finland is shallow and narrow, and compared to that, the traffic volumes are high even when viewed globally. In addition, winter and ice place demands not only on the ship but also on its crew.
– It creates an accident aspect if the crew does not know how to move here. According to our assessment, some of the ships now have crews who may not have operated here before, says Tuomas Luukkonen.
Maritime traffic monitoring is an important part of response preparedness
The tracking of oil tankers and a thorough investigation of their backgrounds is made difficult by the fact that the ships are sailing in an international sea area, whose traffic is only partially under the jurisdiction of the Finnish maritime authorities such as the Finnish Border Guard, the navy, Traficom and the Norwegian Railways Agency. According to Luukkonen, no conclusions can yet be drawn from the shipping company’s or ship’s ticket.
– In general, I can say that, of course, we strive to be constantly aware of what is happening in the Gulf of Finland with the help of cooperation, but, for example, when it comes to monitoring sanctions, the authority is limited to Finnish waters. There is still no point in the Baltic Sea area where a coastal state is not in charge of maritime rescue and environmental damage prevention.
Among the Finnish authorities, the Finnish Border Guard has the leading responsibility for combating environmental damage in the open sea area. According to Luukkonen, the coast guards always have at least two outer guard ships at sea ready to start combat missions. The navy also has at least one ship, and there are contract ships in various parts of Finland’s sea areas that are ready to help if necessary. Rescue operations in welfare areas operate near the coast.
– Everyone is involved in joint activities, which includes, for example, information exchange and exercises. Monitoring the situation is a significant part of preparedness, which has been constant even before the war. So now it has been condensed.
“The oil accident would be Europe’s fault”
According to Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, who is familiar with Russian environmental policy, a cramped Russia with its shadow fleets is without a doubt an environmental risk for the Gulf of Finland.
Does Russia not care about the environment?
– He used to care, but now the situation is completely different.
Tynkkynen even paints a threatening picture of a deliberate oil spill. He justifies the idea with the explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, although Russia’s involvement in the matter has not been officially confirmed.
– It is obvious that Russia has blown up the pipelines, and if Putin gets stuck, all kinds of trouble can be seen and even a deliberate oil accident.
– With the eyes of my soul, I see Russia saying in its propaganda that we now have to rely on such a half-quality fleet, because Europe does not care about environmental standards. So it would be Europe’s fault if an oil accident happened.
In Tynkkynen’s opinion, the origin of oil is an environmental issue, and therefore Western countries that impose sanctions and price ceilings should be able to keep an open eye on where Russian oil ends up and along which routes.
– Sanctioned oil from Russia can also end up on the European market through shady business. A tracking system for the origin of oil should have been created for environmental reasons a long time ago, but now it’s also about defending democracy.
According to Tynkkynen, in addition to Western countries, the international energy organization IEA would have the capabilities to develop and maintain the oil business monitoring system. First, a political decision is needed.