Germany was battling on Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship, that it said was part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet”, away from shore to avert an oil spill.
The 274-metre-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tonnes of oil on board when its engine failed and it lost the ability to manoeuvre overnight on Thursday to Friday, according to Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies.
As the vessel drifted in coastal waters on Friday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock slammed Russia’s use of “dilapidated oil tankers” to avoid sanctions on its oil exports, calling it a threat to European security.
Three tugs have linked up with the Eventin and are attempting to steer it northeast, away from the coast and toward a “safer” area where there is “more sea space”, the command said.
On Saturday morning it said the Eventin and the accompanying tugs were “still north of [the island of] Ruegen and moving eastwards”.
The whole convoy was “travelling slowly” at a rate of about 1-2 knots, or 2.5kph, to safer waters northeast of Ruegen’s Cape Arkona, the commando said.
It added that there were winds of 6 to 7 on the Beaufort scale in the area and that “stormy gusts” were expected to continue, while waves were around 2.5 metres high.