Tankers carrying illicit Russian oil are adding days to their voyages by sailing around the north of Scotland to avoid the English Channel following Britain’s seizure of a “shadow fleet” vessel last month, The i Paper can reveal.
In the 13 days before Royal Marines boarded the Smyrtos, two-thirds of the tankers blacklisted for violating international sanctions passing through British waters travelled through the Channel.
But in the 13 days following the seizure, only a quarter of sanctioned tankers risked sailing between the UK and France. The vast majority took the longer route around Scotland, according to data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
Shorts
Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute who has been tracking changing behaviour by the shadow fleet, said that the UK Government’s vow to launch military operations in March had already caused the Channel to be viewed as a risky “choke point” – with the events of 14 June intensifying those fears.
