Greenpeace Predicts Environmental Disaster Off Germany's Baltic Coast Due to Russian Tankers

Russia's massive use of old and uninsured tankers to export its oil, bypassing Western sanctions, poses a serious threat of environmental disaster along the German Baltic Sea coast.

This is reported in a study by Greenpeace.

‘These vessels of the so-called shadow fleet (tankers used by Russia to transport its oil to circumvent sanctions) are often old and in poor condition. Many tankers are not properly insured, so it remains unclear who will pay for damages in the event of an emergency. In some cases, the vessels do not even have up-to-date nautical charts. Nevertheless, these vessels sail the world's oceans with dangerous cargo and cross protected areas. The largest of them carry oil with a volume of up to 150 Olympic swimming pools. A leak would cause an environmental catastrophe of unimaginable proportions,’ the article says.

The tankers pass through a particularly dangerous passage off Germany's Baltic coast at Kadetrine, northeast of Rostock, which is particularly important for global trade as it allows large oil tankers and cargo ships to sail across the Baltic Sea. It is one of the busiest routes in the Baltic Sea, but also particularly challenging to navigate, with groundings and collisions not uncommon.

It is noted that, according to experts, an oil spill in the Baltic Sea is ‘only a matter of time’. A study by Greenpeace Germany sheds light on crude oil tankers leaving the Russian Baltic Sea ports of Primorsk, St Petersburg, Ust-Luga and Vysotsk and passing by the German Baltic coast. 

‘The passage of crude oil tankers off the German Baltic coast has increased significantly. Since January 2021, the number of crude oil tanker calls from Russia has increased by 70%. India and China are the new major consumers of Russian oil. Their oil is delivered by sea. Much of it is transported through the Baltic Sea, along the German coast,’ the article says. 

Thus, last year, almost 1,000 tankers loaded with oil from Russia sailed west along the Baltic coast - an average of two to three vessels per day, which is a record high. At the same time, Russian export companies are using much older vessels than before after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While in 2021 the average age of oil tankers was 8.9 years, in 2024 it was already 16.6 years. And as the environmental organisation notes, the older the tanker, the higher the risk of wear and corrosion.

More and more tankers transporting Russian oil are ‘not insured against specific types of damage, such as oil spills’. ‘In 2023, about two-thirds of all voyages were not insured against marine risks,’ the study says.