dChan
Anonymous ID: 7ace2e March 3, 2022, 5:33 p.m. No.129041   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9042 >>9043 >>9090 >>9091 >>9136 >>9137 >>9138 >>9203 >>9259 >>9277

UPDATE: NATO MEMBER OWNED SHIP SINKS OFF ODESA – Russia Used Civilian Ship As A Human Shield

John Konrad March 3, 2022

 

UPDATE: “The Estonian-owned cargo ship Helt SUNK on Thursday off the Ukrainian port of Odesa after an explosion,” Igor Ilves, managing director of Tallinn-based manager Vista Shipping Agency, told Reuters. “Two crew members were in a life raft at sea while four others were unaccounted for.”

 

“The vessel has finally sunk,” he said. “Two of the crew are in a raft on the water and four others are missing. I don’t know where they are at the moment.” Ilves said the vessel might have struck a mine.

 

“Estonia is a member of NATO, leading to fears the sinking could spark further conflict in Eastern Europe,” writes Jonathan Saul of Reuters.

 

The following is the original article published this morning just before the ship sank:

 

by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) The Ukrainian Navy has accused the Russian Black Sea Fleet of using civilian vessels for cover — a tactic that it said Russian ground forces were also using. The Ukrainians accused the Russians of forcing the Estonia – a NATO member – owned merchant ship M/V Helt, to enter the dangerous zone of the Black Sea “so that the occupiers can cover themselves with a civilian ship as a human shield.” The Ukrainian Navy said the Russians had threatened to fire on the ship if it did not comply.

 

The Ukrainian Navy is calling the incident an illegal act of piracy.

 

Ukraine’s military headquarters said on Thursday that Russia was sending four amphibious assault ships to land troops near Odesa, a city of 1 million and a major seaport. Images on social media purported to show the landing craft and their escort standing off the southern coast of Crimea, opposite the coastline that includes Odesa.

 

As the Russian Navy approached Ukraine closed navigation in the north-western part of the Black Sea to assure vessel safety. One ship – the Estonia-owned, Panama flagged bulker M/V Helt – did not get far enough away and was allegedly ordered by the Russian Navy to position itself as a shield.

 

Also Read: Northern Black Sea Is Now A ‘Warlike Area’ As Navy Fails To Protect Shipping In NATO Waters

 

“The Russian Black Sea Fleet continues the tactics of Russian ground forces trying to hide behind civilian lives,” said a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy. “The Russian fleet had already fired on 2 civilian ships and captured 2 ships of the Russian occupiers including the Sapphire, a search and rescue ship on a humanitarian mission.”

 

Ukrainian officials said that Russian ships gave the commercial ship an ultimatum. They claim a Russian warship ordered HELT to enter the dangerous zone of the Black Sea to protect themselves from Ukrainian artillery – using the civilian ship as a human shield – if the ship did not comply the Russian Navy threatened to open fire on the HELT.

 

“This is nothing but 21st century piracy,” said the Ukrainian Navy official.

 

More:

https://gcaptain.com/russia-used-civilian-ship-as-a-human-shield/

Anonymous ID: 7ace2e March 3, 2022, 5:43 p.m. No.129044   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9045

>>129042

That's the rub, there's an Obstruction with 9.8 meters of water over it closer to the port which would be more of an issue.

 

Imma say it: Somebody just wants to blame Russia

Anonymous ID: 7ace2e March 3, 2022, 7 p.m. No.129058   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9090 >>9091 >>9136 >>9137 >>9138 >>9203 >>9259 >>9277

Russian Oil Tankers Rerouting from Canadian Destinations

March 3, 2022

 

By Marianna Parraga and Laura Sanicola

 

HOUSTON, March 3 (Reuters) – Two oil tankers owned and managed by Russia’s largest maritime and freight shipping company, Sovcomflot, which was blacklisted by the United States last week as part of sanctions against Russia, are rerouting from their Canadian destinations, according to tracking data and marine sources.

 

The tankers are the first Russian-owned oil vessels to change course after Canada this week ratcheted up pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by shutting ports to Russian-owned ships and barring them from Canadian waters.

 

The Liberia-flagged tanker SCF Neva carrying crude oil changed course from Canada’s Saint John port on Thursday and is now headed to the Caribbean, sources and vessel data show.

 

The vessel loaded crude oil at Colombia’s Mamonal port in mid-February. After stopping at an oil storage terminal in St Eustatius it was due to continue to the Port of St. John in New Brunswick, Canada, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

 

A refined products tanker chartered by Suncor, SCF Ussuri, has slowed down on Thursday and is currently floating offshore after rerouting from its Montreal, Canada, destination, according to vessel data and sources.

 

The vessel loaded at New York on Feb. 24 and was due to arrive in Montreal on March 1.

 

“It’s incredibly confusing for where these ships go, whether they will be received or not and if ports will accept them,” said Dan Yergin, vice chairman of energy research and consultancy IHS Markit.

 

Yergin added that as countries impose formal and informal restrictions on Russian vessels, many might be rerouted to Asia.

 

The Biden administration is considering following Canada in barring Russian ships from U.S. ports, a government official said on Wednesday.

 

As the SCF Ussuri loaded refined product in the U.S. East Coast, it cannot return to the United States without violating the Jones Act.

 

Russian-flagged ships represent a very small percentage of U.S. traffic, but barring Russian cargo from the United States would have a dramatically larger impact, the source said. It was not clear if the administration is seriously considering that more drastic step.

 

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston and Laura Sanicola in Washington; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Lisa Shumaker)

 

https://gcaptain.com/russian-oil-tankers-rerouting-from-canadian-destinations/

Anonymous ID: 7ace2e March 3, 2022, 7:56 p.m. No.129062   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9090 >>9091 >>9136 >>9137 >>9138 >>9203 >>9259 >>9277

Russia’s Toxic Oil Sends Tanker Rates Into a Frenzy

March 3, 2022

By Sharon Cho (Bloomberg) —

 

For clues on how toxic Russian oil has become, look no further than the trade for tankers that export it.

 

It now costs upwards of $3.5 million to hire a tanker to deliver a million barrels to Italy from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk — a voyage that should take no longer than a week. That’s a more-than 300% gain from before the invasion of Ukraine began.

 

It also assumes traders can find an owner willing to risk letting their ship enter a region where four merchant ships have been blown up in the week since the attack started, and where NATO has warned of an increasing risk of collateral damage.

 

Right now, there’s no legal impediment to collecting the nation’s supply, but oil and shipping markets are twisting on one huge uncertainty: Could governments sanction Russia’s energy exports in what would be the most aggressive legislative response possible to the attack? Until there’s a definitive answer, some tanker owners will be reluctant to transport the barrels, and some refineries will look elsewhere for supply.

 

That’s left oil traders being careful too. On Wednesday, Russian oil producer Surgutneftegas PJSC failed to award tenders — for an unprecedented third time — to sell about 6 1/2 million barrels of Urals crude. Since the war began, offers to sell the grade at record discounts on a pricing window run by S&P Global Platts have elicited no bids. It increasingly amounts to an embargo in all but name.

 

“Russian energy flows, in theory, are not sanctioned but everyone is hedging their bets for now,” said Anoop Singh, head of tanker research at Braemar ACM Shipbroking Pte.

Big Earnings

 

Rates to ship Russian crude to Europe from the Black or Baltic seas, the nation’s two main western outlets, now cost about 300 and 455 industry-standard Worldscale points, according to the Baltic Exchange in London. Both were below 100 points before the attack.

 

The figures equate to current daily earnings of $158,000 and $211,000 a day respectively from the two areas — multiples higher than prior to the invasion.

 

While wider tanker markets initially tracked rates for Russia-related trades higher after the invasion, there were signs of a thawing as of Thursday morning, according to shipbrokers in Europe.

 

“Despite the lack of official sanctions, Urals crude oil exports are facing many hurdles as increased tension in the Black Sea exposes shipowners to more risks, and it’s the same trend from the Baltic,” said Ruben Sanchez Agea, a shipping analyst at Medco Shipbrokers SRL in Madrid. “Other markets are losing momentum as more shipowners are once again willing to cover usual traffics not involved in war zones.”

Frozen Trade

 

Energy Aspects Ltd. estimated earlier this week that 70% of Russia’s oil sales were “frozen” because of the shipping and trading logjam, a figure that could drop to 20% once there’s sanctions certainty. Even the lower level would deprive the global tanker market of a swath of cargoes.

 

The tanker market was in a slump before the invasion because OPEC+ nations have kept oil supply off the market to boost oil prices. As such, any material loss of Russian cargoes could exacerbate the surplus of ships that caused the weakness.

 

Singh said there’s been rush to find ships to collect oil from locations other than Russia that’s been beneficial to rates in those other markets. In practice, that will only be bullish for medium-to-longer term for tanker markets if other producers can maintain higher levels of exports. And there’s little sign they can.

 

“By and large we now see a two-tier market,” said Halvor Ellefsen, a tanker broker at Fearnleys A/S in Oslo. “Russia-linked business is living its own life, separated from the general market, which is starting to see signs of cooling off.”

 

https://gcaptain.com/russias-toxic-oil-sends-tanker-rates-into-a-frenzy/

Anonymous ID: 7ace2e March 4, 2022, 7:54 p.m. No.129196   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9201

>>129182

Tineye says this one first appeared via Shutterstock on 14 December 2013. I see no shrouding at Westminster

 

Far right of the pic about midway looks like the other stand of blue Boris Bikes