Finland joined its neighbor Estonia in reporting a continuing increase in the number of suspicious vessels sailing in the Gulf of Finland and the waterways of the Baltic to and from Russia. The Finnish Coast Guard recounted an incident where a laden tanker had to be warned off the course it was on heading toward a shoal, the second in just months involving a shadow tanker.

In its weekly update, the Finnish Board Guard reports that an unnamed shadow fleet tanker carrying crude oil was nearing a dangerous shoal near the Kalbadagrund lighthouse east of Helsinki near Emäsalo on the Gulf of Finland. They determined the vessel was within about 10 minutes of reaching the shoal with the danger of “serious marine environmental damage” if the vessel had continued on its course.

The Maritime Traffic Center was able to reach the vessel by radio and warn it about the dangers. The vessel corrected its course. The Coast Guard says a similar dangerous situation took place in February in the same location. Again, another tanker belonging to the shadow fleet was on a dangerous course.

“During the past week, several ships belonging to the so-called shadow fleet, whose flag state has been unclear, were again spotted in the Gulf of Finland,” says the Board Guard in its weekly summary. They noted that during the past week, “anomalies were detected” and investigated with the AIS signal from vessels registered in Panama and Liberia. “The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard continues to monitor the phenomenon,” they report.

Estonia’s Foreign Minster Margus Tsahkna yesterday, April 28, also said his country was continuing to detect shadow fleet vessels sailing under flags of convenience. He said Estonia was the first country to start inspecting the vessels in June 2024 of the Russian shadow fleet. Since then, Tsahkna said his country has requested insurance documents from more than 500 ships and that it would continue to conduct Port State inspections of passing vessels. 

One of these inspections resulted in the detention of a shadow fleet tanker, the Kiwala, due to suspicions it was operating as a stateless vessel without insurance. Estonia detected 23 deficiencies due to documentation and another 17 technical issues saying 29 of the issues were grounds for the detention. After two weeks the vessel was able to demonstrate technical compliance and departed Estonia bound for Russia. However, according to Estonia’s Transport Administration, the vessel’s flag registration was only extended till May 7 by Djibouti, providing it time to transition. Djibouti reportedly canceled the registration at the beginning of 2025 due to “illegal activities.” The European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Switzerland all had previously sanctioned the tanker.

Finland and Estonia each said they would continue to monitor vessels transiting the Baltic. Tsahkna also called for cooperation among the Baltic states to protect the marine environment from the continuing danger coming from the shadow fleet.

By The Maritime Executive