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Tanker to unload its cargo in StS transfer after rejection due to sanctions breach

The 'Maersk Magellan', which was rejected in Tarragone on Feb 10 due to an alleged breach of the sanctions against Russia, will now dispose of the cargo by a StS transfer outside EU waters. For more than a month, the tanker has idled in the waters off Cyprus since it was refused to dock in Tarragona with its cargo of diesel oil. According to the Spanish authorities, the rejection was due to the fact that the ship's cargo of diesel had previously been on board the tanker 'Nobel', which now sails under the flag of Cameroon, but which until July 1, 2022, had sailed under the Russian flag under the name Neatis - owned by the Russian company Rusprimeexport LLC . According to EU sanctions, no ship that sailed under the Russian flag after Feb 24, 2022, is allowed to deliver cargo in EU waters. The owner of the cargo then asked the ship to sail to another - unspecified - port outside the EU. But since then the ship has remained in a waiting position. The tanker is currently in a position south of Greece.

Still no explanation why Maersk tanker received cargo of sanctioned ship

There was still no exhaustive explanation as to why Maersk Tankers did not discover that the 'Maersk Magellan' received a cargo of diesel that had been on board the sanctioned - formerly Russian-owned - tanker 'Nobel', and was therefore rejected by the Spanish authorities to the port of Tarragona on Feb 10. The shipping company did not say that its own sanctions control had checked the two tankers involved in the delivery of the diesel cargo. The cargo on board the 'Maersk Magellan' came from the now Cameroon-flagged tanker 'Nobel', which, however, sailed under the Russian flag until July 2022. Admittedly, the cargo did not come directly from the 'Nobel', but via two STS transfers to first the tanker 'Elephant' and then to the 'Maersk Magellan'. In the first comment on the case, Maersk Tankers only mentioned that the cargo of diesel had been picked up in Turkey. In a subsequent comment Maersk Tankers then wrote that the shipping company's "full sanctions check" also included the ships: "In accordance with our compliance procedures, a full sanctions check was carried out prior to operations. This included an inspection of the two vessels, Noble and Elephant, based on which we decided to proceed with operations." There was no explanation why Maersk Tankers went ahead with operations when the ships had been checked.

Tanker denied entry in Tarragona due to transshipment with Russian ship

The 'Maersk Magellan' carried out a diesel transshipment operation in the Alboran Sea a few days ago with a Russian-flagged ship and has thus been prohibited the entry in the port of Tarragona on Feb 10, 2023, by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma). The Tarragona Maritime Captaincy has prohibited the entry to the port for the unloading of diesel because the cargo it transported originates from the Cameroon flagged “Nobel”, which before July 1, 2022 had a Russian flag. The ban responds to a European standard that does not allow, after the start of the war against the Ukraine, giving access to Union territories to any ship registered under the Russian flag after April 16, 2022, extensive to Russian ships that have changed flag after Feb 24. The operation carried out by the 'Maersk Magellan' contravened the regulations that prohibit deliberate participation in activities whose purpose is to circumvent the prohibitions established by the EU after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The decision, precisely, came after the Tarragona Maritime Authority learned that the "Maersk Magellan" had carried out a diesel oil transshipment operation ("Ship to Ship" in maritime slang) from the "Elephant" in the Alboran Sea. In the investigations carried out at that time, the existence of a certificate of origin of the merchandise was verified, stating that it came from the 'Nobel'. After these checks, it was agreed to prohibit access to the Port of Tarragona for having failed to comply with European regulations.