Laden Russian tanker loses power in stormy Bay of Biscay

A laden Russian-flagged tanker has broken down in the stormy Bay of Biscay off France.

The Unity, a 16-year-old aframax, departed Primorsk on January 16 with Russian oil bound for Mangalore in India. The ship ran into difficulties overnight off the west coast of France. It has lost propulsion during extremely stormy conditions in the Atlantic. 

Shipping database Equasis shows the vessel is owned by Moscow-headquartered Argo Tanker Group, who acquired the ship in September last year.

German authorities had to rescue another laden Russian tanker in the Baltic 14 days ago.  The 19-year-old Eventin, carrying nearly 100,000 tons of Russian oil, broke down and was towed to the German port of Sassnitz.

The Eagle S, meanwhile, the tanker at the centre of the latest Baltic subsea cable cutting incident, failed a port state control earlier this month. Finnish authorities found 32 faults on the ship, three of which are deemed severe enough that the vessel has to get them repaired before it can move again.

“Russia’s use of the so-called shadow fleet poses a particular threat to the maritime and environmental security in the Baltic Sea region and globally,” read a joint statement from the heads of state or government of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden published last week.

Last month stormy seas saw two tankers run into difficulty in and around Russia’s Kerch Strait on the same day, with the resulting oil spills plaguing local coastlines to this day. 

The Volgoneft-212, built in 1969, carrying some 4,300 tonnes of fuel oil, broke in half, while another laden elderly Russian coastal product tanker, Volgoneft-239, built in 1973, ran aground.