Russia’s Billion-Dollar ‘Shadow Fleet’

DEEP DIVE – On January 10, the oil tanker Eventin was steaming westward from Russia alongside Germany’s Baltic coast, bucking eight-foot waves and biting winds, when its methods shut down in a complete blackout. The 19-year-old Panama-flagged vessel, the size of three soccer fields, was drifting and declared “unmaneuverable.”

Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies scrambled a group of specialised operators to rescue the 24-man crew, struggling to outlive the lashing winter storm with out warmth or mild, and to stop the ship from crashing into rocks and disgorging its cargo – 109,000 tons of Russian crude oil destined for Egypt – onto the pristine seashores and chalk cliffs of Germany’s storied Rügen Island. The dangers of environmental catastrophe and a shutdown of important industrial delivery lanes loomed.