“Ghost tankers” in the Gulf of Finland pose a hazard to maritime safety

Mysterious tankers are transporting crude oil across the Gulf of Finland as a result of the G7 capping the price of Russian oil at $60 and the EU and UK outlawing the import of Russian crude oil by sea, which forced Moscow to increase long-distance shipments using dubious boats.

The number of dangers to maritime safety and the environment have increased as a result of the arrival of hundreds of damaged tankers in the already crowded Gulf of Finland.

As the authorities don’t know whether the “ghost tankers” are fully insured, all the consequences in the event of an accident and an oil spill may fall on nations like Finland and Estonia.

Lieutenant Commander Tuomas Luukkonen of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard sent a similar message: “Our estimate is that some of those vessels have a crew which may not have previously sailed in the area. There is a chance for an accident because of that, Luukkonen said Ilta-Sanomat.

Ulla Tapaninen, a tenured associate professor of maritime transport at Tallinn University of Technology, adding that shipping firms are now handling the oil supplies from Russian ports.

According to Tapaninen, a lot of new shipping companies have popped up during the past six months about which we know very little.

“As they don’t stop at European ports, we don’t acquire information on the crew, the state, and the age of the vessels,” Tapaninen continued.