The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it will continue to detain vessels of the Russian “shadow fleet” sailing under flags of convenience.
The oil tanker Kiwala, which the European Union believes is involved in the Russian shadow fleet, used to transport oil from Russia, circumventing sanctions, has been allowed to continue its voyage after significant deficiencies on the ship were eliminated, according to Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
On April 11, the Estonian Navy arrested an oil tanker in the Baltic Sea in the early morning. Immediately afterwards, an inspection by the transport authorities revealed 40 defects, so the ship was prohibited from continuing its journey until those defects were fixed. Tsakhnah said that the deficiencies related to the arrest of the vessel had been fixed, an inspection had been carried out and as a result the vessel was released.
“The whole incident confirms once again that there are significant deficiencies in the registers of the so-called flags of convenience countries and the data is not reliable and communication with them is problematic,” Tsakhna said.
Kiwala was registered under the flag of Djibouti, but the authorities of that country said the flag had been withdrawn, and in addition, the tanker had no insurance and was sanctioned by the European Union, Great Britain, Canada, and Switzerland. On April 16, Djibuti announced that the oil tanker would remain in its State registry for a transition period until May 7 and its certificates would be valid until that time.
