On January 21, 2019, two Tanzanian ships carrying liquefied natural gas caught fire in the neutral waters of the Kerch Strait. The cause of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 20 sailors, was the illegal pumping of gas on the high seas, which is prohibited by international law. However, the roots of the problem go much deeper than the banal irresponsibility of the captains of the two tankers, who decided on a risky maneuver.
Chronicle of the incident
On Monday, January 21, Rosmorrechflot reported that tankers "Venis" and "Maestro" sailing under the flag of Tanzania were burning in the Kerch Strait. Shortly before this, the ships called at the Kuban port of Temryuk. The fire started during an anchorage on the high seas, which was arranged to pump natural gas, bypassing all safety requirements. Later, on one of the ships, a fire that broke out led to an explosion. The total volume of gas transported by tankers exceeded 4.5 tons.
On board the two ships were over 30 crew members, mostly citizens of Turkey and India. Russian rescue ships rushed to their aid, and the search for survivors was also carried out with the help of a helicopter. 12 people were rescued and the bodies of 14 victims were found. The rest of the sailors are listed as missing, but the chances of finding them alive are close to zero.
The fire did not affect shipping in the area of the incident. However, there was a threat of environmental pollution as a result of oil spills. Difficult weather conditions hinder the full assessment of its scale.
Causes of the fire
Shortly before the tragedy, the tanker "Maestro" was denied the use of the gas terminal in the port of Temryuk due to the fact that the ship was included in the US sanctions list for transporting oil to Syria. Working with him threatens suppliers, terminal operators and buyers of being sanctioned. At the same time, the tanker "Venis" was not denied service. As a rule, it was fueled with Russian and Kazakh gas, in order to then reload the fuel to the Maestro, which delivered it to Syria.
It is the restrictions on direct supplies of natural resources to this Arab country that are pushing companies into gray schemes. At the same time, experts do not believe that large volumes of energy sources enter Syria in this way. There are other, more convenient options. For example, the purchase of gas and re-chartering through offshore companies.
The use of small vessels (2-5 thousand tons) also delays this process in time. To fill a tanker with a volume of more than 100 thousand tons, more than a dozen transfers from donor ships are required. All illegal operations are carried out in the free zone, and the ships delivering cargo to the destination are sometimes at sea for years, never entering the port.
Who is responsible
Russia cannot control what happens outside of its territorial waters. Therefore, all responsibility lies with the owners and captains of the ships. In pursuit of profit, they neglect safety standards, operating rules, and legal prohibitions. It is almost impossible to fight this scheme.
By the way, the Ukrainian authorities, having learned about the fire, hastened to accuse Russia of illegal gas supplies to Syria. However, the smuggling trade was also carried out during the time of Ukrainian control in the Kerch Strait. A similar practice exists off the coast of Nigeria, in the waters of Southeast Asia.
Experts believe that inspecting ships in neutral waters could take control of the situation. But then conflicts with other countries and inspections of Russian ships from their side cannot be avoided. Therefore, the most realistic way out is to control and track information about the actions of ships, and when entering the port - to check compliance with safety requirements.
In the Kerch Strait, the situation is complicated by the fact that there are no ports of suitable depth for heavy ships (over 20 thousand tons). Only the port in Novorossiysk is suitable for them, but its excessive workload and long queues push the consignors to use illegal schemes. The construction of the Taman port, which will become a worthy alternative to Novorossiysk, should help resolve this problem. Experts hope that then ships will more often enter the coastal zone and carry out the transfer of goods in accordance with all the rules.
