The number of tankers from the Russian Federation choosing the route around Africa has increased, Klymenko
23.10.2024 - 12:03
Russian fuel is mainly transported by shipowners from Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Turkey.
In September 2024, 99 tankers with crude oil left the Russian ports of the Baltic Sea. Andriy Klymenko, head of the Monitoring Group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, announced this.
Of these, 6 ships chose the route around Africa instead of the shorter route through the Suez Canal. The change of route is related to Houthi attacks on civilian vessels in the Red Sea.
This state of affairs increases the delivery time by 12-14 days and adds significant costs, because one day of downtime of a large tanker costs several tens of thousands of dollars.
In October, this trend increased: out of 32 tankers that left Russian ports in the first 10 days of the month, 7 vessels (almost 22%) chose the route around Africa.
Companies transporting Russian raw materials mostly come from the Russian Federation, UAE, Greece and Turkey.
As USM recently reported, nearly 63% of all tankers built in 2009 or older are trading Iranian, Venezuelan and/or Russian oil under sanctions.
