Germany seizes Russian oil tanker tied to shadow fleet operations

This is reported by Spiegel.

According to the publication, last Friday German customs officials confiscated the tanker Eventin, sailing under the Panamanian flag, which had been anchored off the coast of Rügen Island since mid-January.

Under the so-called seizure order issued by the Main Customs Office, the old tanker and approximately 100,000 tons of crude oil worth 40 million euros now become the property of Germany, the authors note.

According to law enforcement agencies, after the relevant decision was made, the Eventin tanker will be reflagged under a different flag. Authorities are currently deciding how and where to safely offload the crude oil from Eventin’s tanks, as well as determining the ship’s future.

What is known about Russia’s Eventin tanker

The publication Bild reported that on January 10, in the Baltic Sea near the German island of Rügen, the Eventin tanker lost control.

The tanker was slowly drifting and unable to maneuver. The 248-meter-long vessel was carrying about 99,000 tons of oil. Sailing under the Panamanian flag, it had loaded oil in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga near the Estonian border. It departed on January 6, with Port Said in Egypt listed as its destination. However, it was most likely heading to India, a country that has not joined the sanctions against Russia and is currently the largest buyer of Russian oil.

According to the publication, Eventin is part of the so-called Russian shadow fleet, which the Kremlin uses to circumvent Western sanctions. Eventin was originally named Storviken and sailed under the Norwegian flag in 2006, then was registered in Panama as Charvi in 2022, and received its current name in June 2024. It also repeatedly turned off its tracking systems — a common practice for shadow fleet vessels.

Later reports stated that the Russian shadow fleet tanker Eventin, which was involved in an incident in the Baltic Sea near the German island of Rügen, was being towed eastward.