A shadow fleet tanker carrying crude oil escaped from running aground near the Kalbådagrund Lighthouse, which could have caused a “serious marine environmental damage.”
The Finnish Border Guard in its weekly update reported that an unnamed tanker from the “shadow fleet” was spotted in international waters near the Kalbådagrund Lighthouse.
The vessel, which was heading west, was within about ten minutes of reaching the shoal, with the danger of causing serious marine environmental damage, according to the Finnish Border Guard.
After the Maritime Traffic Centre informed the vessel of this, the tanker corrected its course and thus avoided the danger.
In February of this year, another tanker belonging to the “shadow fleet” caused a similar dangerous situation in the same location.
During the past week, several vessels belonging to the so-called shadow fleet were again observed in the Gulf of Finland, the flag of which has been unclear. The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard continues to monitor the phenomenon, the Finnish Border Guard reports.
Meanwhile, disturbances in satellite positioning systems and “anomalies in the automatic identification system (AIS)” were observed recently in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
During the past week, anomalies were observed in the AIS on vessels registered in Panama, Liberia and Greece, in accordance with the same report.
