EVENTIN

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

No evidence of crime yet, investigations are going on

According to the Stralsund public prosecutor's office, there is no evidence of a crime following customs inspections of the "Eventin". Customs informed the public prosecutor's office of this on the afternoon of Jan 17, and at the same time informed them that the evaluations were ongoing. The General Customs Directorate in Hamburg said that they would not comment on individual cases in detail, while the inspections were ongoing. The customs were investigating whether the approximately 100,000 tons of oil on board the "Eventin" are Russian oil and whether the EU oil embargo is being violated. The ship was also prohibited from continuing its voyage due to technical inspections. Whether there were any administrative offenses is not the responsibility of the public prosecutor's office. In addition, suspicion of a criminal offense could still arise. If there is initial suspicion, an investigation would then be initiated. So far, they have only rudimentary knowledge of the case and are awaiting further findings from customs.

Inspections of tanker may take days

The customs inspection of the "Eventin" off the port of Sassnitz may take days. The inspection of the cargo and the relevant documents was underway as ofJan 16. How long this will last is not yet foreseeable. The customs did not provide any information on Thursday as to whether there is any cargo on board the tanker that is subject to sanctions. No interim results will be announced while the customs inspection is still ongoing. The ship is therefore not allowed to continue sailing until then. The main engine is now running again. Regardless of the customs measures, the "Eventin" is also subject to a temporary sailing ban imposed by the authorities responsible for ship safety. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport, this applies until the question of whether the ship is technically capable of leaving the Baltic Sea under its own power has been clarified. This will be checked by experts from an international classification society.

Engines are at least partially running again - assistance tugs released

According to the Federal Ministry of Transport, the "Eventin" has power again, wwhichmeans that the ship can now hold its position unassisted. The connections to the tugs have thus been severed, and the ship had dropped anchor. Since energy is needed on board to raise the anchor, it could be assumed that the ship's engines are also at least partially running again. According to information from the responsible Baltic Sea Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), the ship was requesting permission to leave. What will happen to the ship is now being clarified. The offshore tugs 'Detector' (IMO: 9298911) and ''Farmar Arion' (IMO: 9056789) were stationary in the vicinity. However, the "Eventin" cannot simply continue its journey. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport, this requires that the tanker is seaworthy. The Ship Safety Department of the Transport Accident Insurance Association has initially issued a ban on further sailing. On behalf of the federal government, it monitors compliance with international safety regulations and is now waiting for the test report from a classification society, The department will then decide whether the tanker can leave the Baltic Sea under its own power or whether further measures are required. Whether and when permission to continue its voyage is granted depends on the ongoing investigations. The results of a customs inspection are also likely to play a role. Customs officials inspected the ship, which is part of the Russian shadow fleet, on Jan 14. This was confirmed by the General Directorate of Customs. The purpose of the inspection was to check whether the applicable embargo law was being complied with - i.e. whether Russian oil was on board. This has been sanctioned by the EU since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Federal Police ship 'Bad Bramstedt' was on standby close to the 'Eventin', carrying out administrative assistance tasks for customs. The accompanying documents were checked, among other things. These can provide information about where the loaded oil came from. Samples were also taken for this purpose. The results of the customs inspection were still pending.