>A large number of “shadow fleet” oil tankers were detected off the Irish west coast during the past week, forcing authorities to send up both Air Corps and Coast Guard aircraft in shifts to monitor them.
>Five of the vessels travelled in convoy south through the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in what military sources said was a likely effort to discourage boarding attempts.
>The shadow fleet refers to a collection of several hundred vessels, often old and in poor condition, which are used by Russia to transport sanctioned oil.
>All five of the ships in the convoy are subject to EU sanctions. They were carrying an estimated four million barrels of sanctioned oil from Russia. One of the ships was 23 years old and another was 21.
>Several other sanctioned tankers passed through the EEZ during the past week, while on Wednesday, a Russian fishing vessel previously accused of acting as a covert Russian maritime surveillance ship also passed through Irish economic waters.
>In 2023, this fishing vessel, the Ester, was found to be equipped with a hidden military radio during a routine inspection by Norwegian authorities.
>“The radios can broadcast military messages and information. And receive them the other way,” Johan Roaldsnes, of the Norwegian Police Security Service, told Norwegian media at the time. “Russia needs these civilian vessels as support for military purposes.”
>An Irish security source said the number of shadow fleet vessels passing through the EEZ in recent days was “unprecedented”.
>Vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil are increasingly opting to travel around Ireland instead of taking the quicker and safer route to the English Channel.
>This follows an announcement last week by the British government that the royal navy would begin seizing shadow fleet vessels passing through the channel.
>There is no law against ships travelling through another country’s exclusive economic zone. However, the British government said shadow fleet vessels are effectively “stateless”, meaning they can be legally boarded and seized in international waters.
>The Irish Government has recently signalled it intends to start inspecting such vessels and legislation is being drafted to grant the Naval Service additional powers to board ships at sea.
>The Government has stopped short of committing to seizing the ships, however.
>The jump in shadow fleet traffic off the west coast has placed additional pressure on Defence Forces resources. Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft were up monitoring the vessels most days over the past week. On Thursday, military aircraft and Coast Guard fixed-wing aircraft monitored the convoy in shifts as it travelled through the EEZ.
>Shadow fleet vessels are viewed as a threat to critical undersea infrastructure, including communication cables and energy interconnectors. Vessels have been accused of deliberately towing their anchors over cables in the Baltic, while other incidents were judged to be the result of accidents or poor seamanship.
>Last week, The Irish Times reported that a ship which left the Aughinish Alumina refinery in Limerick, bound for Russia, was observed dropping its anchor near subsea cables off the west coast last year.
>The ship was later inspected by German police and found to be missing its anchor. The ship’s owners denied any wrongdoing and said it was cleared by authorities.
>A greater concern for Irish authorities would be an oil spill resulting from the poor condition of many of the ships.
>On Friday, Swedish authorities announced they had seized a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel, which they linked to an oil spill off the island of Gotland.
>A Defence Forces spokesman said it does not comment on “specific operational matters”, but it regularly carries out “maritime defence and security operations” in the EEZ and “any relevant information gathered is shared with the appropriate national and international authorities”.
>The Department of Transport said the Coast Guard “works with other relevant Government departments regarding sanctioned vessels to ensure a co-ordinated approach to monitoring associated activity.
>“Importantly, the Coast Guard does not support or assist other State agencies except for core Coast Guard roles,” said a spokeswoman.
breezersletje on
“Monitored” come on EU, seize them all.
ronhofmedia on
It is so weird to observe that Ruskies do whatever they like – without repercussions.
Littlepage3130 on
“The Irish Government has recently signalled it intends to start inspecting such vessels and legislation is being drafted to grant the Naval Service additional powers to board ships at sea.”
This is another example of Ireland being a weak link when it comes to dealing with Russia.
4 commenti
>A large number of “shadow fleet” oil tankers were detected off the Irish west coast during the past week, forcing authorities to send up both Air Corps and Coast Guard aircraft in shifts to monitor them.
>Five of the vessels travelled in convoy south through the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in what military sources said was a likely effort to discourage boarding attempts.
>The shadow fleet refers to a collection of several hundred vessels, often old and in poor condition, which are used by Russia to transport sanctioned oil.
>All five of the ships in the convoy are subject to EU sanctions. They were carrying an estimated four million barrels of sanctioned oil from Russia. One of the ships was 23 years old and another was 21.
>Several other sanctioned tankers passed through the EEZ during the past week, while on Wednesday, a Russian fishing vessel previously accused of acting as a covert Russian maritime surveillance ship also passed through Irish economic waters.
>In 2023, this fishing vessel, the Ester, was found to be equipped with a hidden military radio during a routine inspection by Norwegian authorities.
>“The radios can broadcast military messages and information. And receive them the other way,” Johan Roaldsnes, of the Norwegian Police Security Service, told Norwegian media at the time. “Russia needs these civilian vessels as support for military purposes.”
>An Irish security source said the number of shadow fleet vessels passing through the EEZ in recent days was “unprecedented”.
>Vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil are increasingly opting to travel around Ireland instead of taking the quicker and safer route to the English Channel.
>This follows an announcement last week by the British government that the royal navy would begin seizing shadow fleet vessels passing through the channel.
>There is no law against ships travelling through another country’s exclusive economic zone. However, the British government said shadow fleet vessels are effectively “stateless”, meaning they can be legally boarded and seized in international waters.
>The Irish Government has recently signalled it intends to start inspecting such vessels and legislation is being drafted to grant the Naval Service additional powers to board ships at sea.
>The Government has stopped short of committing to seizing the ships, however.
>The jump in shadow fleet traffic off the west coast has placed additional pressure on Defence Forces resources. Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft were up monitoring the vessels most days over the past week. On Thursday, military aircraft and Coast Guard fixed-wing aircraft monitored the convoy in shifts as it travelled through the EEZ.
>Shadow fleet vessels are viewed as a threat to critical undersea infrastructure, including communication cables and energy interconnectors. Vessels have been accused of deliberately towing their anchors over cables in the Baltic, while other incidents were judged to be the result of accidents or poor seamanship.
>Last week, The Irish Times reported that a ship which left the Aughinish Alumina refinery in Limerick, bound for Russia, was observed dropping its anchor near subsea cables off the west coast last year.
>The ship was later inspected by German police and found to be missing its anchor. The ship’s owners denied any wrongdoing and said it was cleared by authorities.
>A greater concern for Irish authorities would be an oil spill resulting from the poor condition of many of the ships.
>On Friday, Swedish authorities announced they had seized a suspected Russian shadow fleet vessel, which they linked to an oil spill off the island of Gotland.
>A Defence Forces spokesman said it does not comment on “specific operational matters”, but it regularly carries out “maritime defence and security operations” in the EEZ and “any relevant information gathered is shared with the appropriate national and international authorities”.
>The Department of Transport said the Coast Guard “works with other relevant Government departments regarding sanctioned vessels to ensure a co-ordinated approach to monitoring associated activity.
>“Importantly, the Coast Guard does not support or assist other State agencies except for core Coast Guard roles,” said a spokeswoman.
“Monitored” come on EU, seize them all.
It is so weird to observe that Ruskies do whatever they like – without repercussions.
“The Irish Government has recently signalled it intends to start inspecting such vessels and legislation is being drafted to grant the Naval Service additional powers to board ships at sea.”
This is another example of Ireland being a weak link when it comes to dealing with Russia.