The tanker “Eventin” and its cargo are transferred to German ownership. Customs have confiscated the ship, which is part of the shadow fleet.
The “Eventin” has been anchored off Rügen since January. The tanker, which is part of the shadow fleet, was prohibited from continuing its journey. Customs have now confiscated the ship and its cargo of around 100,000 tons of crude oil. This means that everything is now German property. This is reported by “Der Spiegel”.
The cargo is valued at a good €40 million. The responsible authorities are now considering how to proceed. The ship’s systems are said to be operational.
“Eventin” has been lying off Rügen since February
The tanker had a blackout in the Baltic Sea at the beginning of January with around 99,000 tons of heavy oil on board and drifted in the Baltic Sea for hours, unable to manoeuvre. All systems had failed. German emergency services secured the tanker and towed it to an area off the island of Rügen not far from the town of Sassnitz. It has been moored off Rügen ever since. The original destination was Port Said in Egypt.
Greenpeace had already listed the ship as one of the 192 most dangerous crude oil tankers at the time. In February, the “Eventin” was then placed on the EU’s blacklist of sanctioned ships.
The term “shadow fleet” refers to ships that Russia uses to circumvent a Western price cap on Russian oil exports to third countries. These tankers, which are often outdated, are not owned by Western shipping companies and often travel without adequate insurance cover.
The ship’s main engine has long been running again and the captain had also asked for permission to set sail. However, German authorities had forbidden this. According to EU information, the ships on the sanctions list are not allowed to call at EU ports and are excluded from a large number of services within the EU, such as insurance services. Technical support and supplies for the ships are also affected.
