In July our Association published the investigation on the scams related to the mass change of the shadow fleet’s changing flags of the relevant vessels to Russian ones.
Our investigation proved that these replacements raised questions about both the legality of the “new” Russian flags and the role of Russian classification societies in the relevant maritime scams.
With a hundred vessels analyzed, researchers proved that Russia’s change of flag of vessels, both in terms of entering tankers of the shadow fleet into Russian registers and removing individual vessels from these registers, associated with all sorts of maritime scams and general criminality, requires special attention from authorized international structures, classification societies, insurers, and port and flag administrations.
The replacement of such a flag during a voyage indicates a gross violation by both the shipowner and the Russian maritime administration, in particular by the specific captain of the Russian port controlled by this administration, of the requirements of the UNCLOS, MLC, SOLAS, STCW, and MARPOL conventions.
Also, obtaining a Russian flag for a vessel requires its certification by such classification societies as the state “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping” or “Russian Classification Society”, which not only neglect the requirements of maritime security for the political dividends of Russia but are also a direct tool of Russian special services in their fight against Western countries and Ukraine.
After relevant recommendations were sent by our Association to international organizations, global maritime business structures, national maritime administrations, and sanctions’ units, we already got relevant reactions from authorities of Great Britain, New Zealand, and other jurisdictions.
In relevant response, the EU Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) stressed that the extensive information we provided on such practices is very valuable for the full understanding of the situation and the related development of sanctions and added that the vessels classified by the “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping” are prevented from accessing EU ports.
Also, our investigation was published by the “EU Today,” which stressed that it “provides a detailed analysis of one aspect of Russia’s shadow fleet: the rapid reflagging of tankers under the Russian flag through state-controlled classification societies”.
