Fleet of renegades worse than the shadow fleet. “Limer lawlessness”
The shadow fleet is a scourge. Since Western governments have limited the prices of Russian oil, it has been constantly expanding, exposing the coastal states on the route of its movement to all kinds of oil accidents and leaks.
All this is possible thanks to some countries that spend their flags on demand, allowing these suspicious ships to swim under their flag. Now, however, a new category of ships appears – even more suspicious and more difficult to control: a fleet of renegades that does not swim under any flag.
In the middle of the night of April 10, the mysterious ship approached the Gulf of Finnish. He sailed from the Indian port of Sikka to the Russian Ust-Bąt, only 32 km from Narwa in Estonia. It was not unusual: since the West was applied in December 2022 a price limit of $ 60. [227 zł] For the barrel of Russian oil, the authorities of Estonia and Finland got used to suspicious guests at sea, and the number of so-called ships-shades flowing to the Baltic ports from Russian ports increased rapidly.
Usually these ships swim under “comfortable” flags or newly appearing “extremely comfortable” flags (as I call them). The latter are flags of such countries as Gabon, Mongolia, Cooka islands, Komora and Guinea Bissau, which have virtually no experience in maritime sailing, but have become a destination for ships that cannot get flags anywhere else.
Retaining in the Baltic Sea
However, the tanker detained by the Estonians, Kilad, was different. He didn't swim under any flag.
Earlier, Kirata was registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Then, in May 2023, when the shadow fleet grew rapidly, the owner changed the registration of Bandera first to Mongolska, then to Gabońska, and ultimately at the end of 2024 to Jibutian. Then the ship just swam without a flag.
This is a clear violation of sea order. Therefore, when Kilad approached the exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Estonia, the country's authorities watched him closely and immediately ordered the ship to influence territorial waters after entering Eez. Although the shields from the shadow fleet usually make every effort to stay in Eez, where the coastal states have much less rights, Kilad in an unusual way followed the recommendation.
After entering the waters, the territorial tanker was quickly detained by the authorities. “The ship did not have a flag. It was a non -state ship. Such ships cannot actually swim. Estonia exercised the right to stop the ship to carry out an inspection,” said Veiko Kommusaar, head of the Estonian police and the Border Guard (PPA).
The detention turned out to be necessary because the Estonian authorities discovered at least 40 irregularities on Tankowiec (in some way during the last inspection, carried out at the Russian port of Novorossy in June 2024, no one was found). Fifteen days later, after removing the most serious problems, Kilad received permission to leave, and Djibuti agreed to flow under his flag until May 7.
But Now Kirata will probably return to his non -whake existence, because it apparently did not hurt his activities: From the moment of resignation from registration under the flag in November last year, the ship transported crude oil between Russia and Southeast Asia. At the time of the Estonians stopped, the ship was on the way to Ust-Service to collect another load of Russian oil. This is currently the state of sea order.
Belonging to the Russian shadow fleet, Eventin tanker. Before Niełłoń, the Federal Police Ship BP82 Bamberg, Germany, the Baltic Sea, January 12, 2025.
New order at sea
It was good in a perverse way that the kila was swimming without flags: This means that even “extremely comfortable” flags have proved to be too risky for this ship. On the other hand, the fact that this did not stop him from sailing suggests disturbing reality: the owners of ships-RIDM do not care so much about international maritime regulations that they are ready to allow ships to violate the most fundamental principles of global navigation.
In normal circumstances, Kilad should be detained in Ust-Luda, Sikka or one of the other Russian or Indian ports to which he regularly wraps. However, this did not happen. Instead, its owner, customers and all these ports tolerated a gross violation of marine regulations. It didn't bother them because On today's oceans, breaking the rules is common and intensifies – whether in the case of a shadow fleet, mysterious incidents related to submarine cables and pipelines, Huti attacks on commercial ships associated with the West, Chinese acts of aggression in the South China Sea or RAF classes located in the waters of other countries.
As for the rebellious fleet, it creates the same serious threat as the shadow fleet – including the fundamental issue of what is happening in the event of an accident. Usually, the Bandera plays the main role in responding to accidents and preventing them. But what happens when there is no flag?
Countries that follow the laws have little opportunities to deal with people violating the rules in their exclusive economic zones, and in international waters they have practically no one, but Estonia should be praised for the proceedings in the case. In the meantime, the rest of us can help, indicating and stigmatizing ships violating the rules, their owners and managers. We should watch other ships that attach to the renegades fleet.
To start with, the world should learn about TiRad Shipping Inc. – a company from Mauritius with one ship, which was the owner and manager of Kille when he influenced the waters of Estonia – and about the new ship manager, Hong from Hu Shipmanagement Co. based in Shanghai. Their banks should also take a closer look at them, because if they conduct transactions in dollars – which is very likely – they can violate sanctions.
