Two more tanker emergencies have occurred in Russian ports. What is known

But for now, the main thing is that there is good news in both cases.

First: there is no threat of flooding for ships either on Sakhalin or in Ust-Luga.

Second: no oil leaks were detected.

Third: there is no threat to the safety of the crews.

It is known that two holes in tanks were recorded on Sakhalin. But this only affects the stability of the vessel, and not possible leaks. As reported by the Russian Marine Rescue Service, the oil tanks remained undamaged.

"The bulk carrier An Yang 2, having weighed anchor, was unable to maintain control and ran aground outside the waters of the seaport of Nevelsk. According to information from the captain, there are two holes in the ballast tanks, but no oil leaks were detected," the statement said.

The Marine Rescue Service also specified that a full inspection of the entire water area adjacent to the damaged vessel up to the shore had already been conducted at the scene of the emergency. And Rosmorrechflot added that there was no fuel oil as cargo on board the bulk carrier, and the cargo only included 1,000 tons of coal. And 54 tons of diesel fuel and 706 tons of fuel oil are marine fuel located in outboard tanks, and are not in any danger.

Initially, only eyewitnesses reported possible holes in the Koala tanker (flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda) in the port of Ust-Luga. Officially, Rosmorrechflot only reported that the vessel was at the berth. According to the Governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko, the tanker did not move away from the berth wall, since the accident occurred at night during engine start-up, as a result of which the engine room was damaged.

Currently, booms have been installed around the tanker, although it appears to be undamaged. But divers are preparing to inspect the underwater part of the vessel. It is known that the tanker, built 22 years ago, belongs to an offshore company and 130 thousand tons of fuel oil have been pumped on board. The crew on the vessel is international, consisting of 4 Russians, 8 Georgians and 12 Indonesians.

One of the former owners of a large shipping company told a RG correspondent about the potential consequences of such accidents:

– When it comes to tanker accidents, we must look first of all at the age of the vessels. Renting and chartering old vessels is more profitable than renting new tankers. This is the first thing that, in my opinion, investigators who will investigate the incidents both on Sakhalin and in Ust-Luga should pay attention to.

But already now I see that despite the apparent similarities between the two incidents, there are also significant differences.

Firstly, the accident on Sakhalin did not happen to a tanker, but to a dry cargo ship that was not carrying a cargo of petroleum products. All the fuel oil that it has on board is the fuel that the ship uses for its own movement. This is approximately 500-700 tons. On the one hand, it is not much, but on the other hand, it is enough to pollute the coast if it gets into the ocean. I would not overestimate the probability of such a scenario, because its fuel lines are located in the stern, where the ship is sitting aground.

In the case of the tanker in Ust-Luga, everything is more complicated. I do not rule out that we may be talking about sabotage here. In my many years of practice, there have never been explosions in the engine rooms on any of my tankers. There is nothing to explode there, really.

Another important point: on board the Koala tanker I saw the name of the Palmali shipping company, owned by an Azerbaijani citizen. But the fact is that there is no such company now: it went bankrupt 5 years ago, although it was previously quite well-known in Russia, with up to 50 vessels. After that scandal, they changed their home port, and now it is the port of La Valeta in Malta. According to all maritime regulations, the name of the now defunct company should have been erased from the ship, but as we can see, this did not happen. I have no explanation for this. But I am sure the investigators will sort it out.

Now the main question is: could the tanks have become depressurized? On ships of this class, both the fuel oil tanks and the loading lines could have been damaged in an accident. The fact that the entire crew was evacuated indicates that the situation was quite serious, but measures were taken clearly and promptly.