UK Hits at Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' with Fresh Vessel Sanctions

Britain has slapped sanctions on 10 further ships in Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of vessels which it says use illicit practices to avoid Western restrictions on Russian oil.

Russia rejects Western pressure to limit its oil exports, and in the past year there has been a growth in the number of tankers transporting cargoes that are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.

"Today’s sanctions further undermine Russia’s ability to trade in oil via its shadow fleet," British foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement on Wednesday.

The foreign ministry said the action taken brought the total number of ‘shadow fleet’ vessels designated to 25.

"Previous UK action against individual shadow ships have left vessels materially disrupted, with the vast majority of them idling outside ports, and unable to carry on their trade in Russian oil," the ministry added in the statement.

All of the 10 tankers were previously managed by United Arab Emirates company Oil Tankers SCF MGMT FZCO, which was used by Russia’s top shipping company Sovcomflot (SCF) last year, sources familiar with the matter said.

Earlier this year, the 10 vessels were transferred to another UAE-based company, Stream Ship Management FZCO, according to data from public database Equasis.

The vessels included the SCF Baltica, which according to separate LSEG data was listed as being managed by SCF Management Services.

Earlier this year, the SCF Baltica was listed on Sovcomflot’s website as part of its fleet of tankers.

Sovcomflot declined to comment and Stream Ship Management could not be reached for comment.

Olympiysky Prospect, which was also hit by UK sanctions, and SCF Baltica have been active during this year's navigation season via North Sea Route to China shipping oil from the Russian ports of Primorsk and Murmansk, loading data showed.

"The ships targeted are all ‘high-volume offenders’ – vessels operating around the clock to transport as much Russian oil as possible," the UK foreign ministry said.

In June the European Union imposed sanctions on Sovcomflot and in July the UK hit 11 tankers with separate sanctions including at least two linked to Sovcomflot.

Sanctions on shipping companies are undermining safety at sea and pose dangers for trade as ship standards are impacted, SCF's CEO said in June.

(Reuters - Reporting by Jonathan Saul, Sarah Young and Sachin Ravikumar and Gleb Stolyarov, Editing by William Maclean)