Authorities cannot dispose of the vessel and its cargo until a final decision is made.
A German court has suspended government actions to sell or use the oil cargo on a detained tanker suspected of transporting Russian oil in defiance of sanctions.
The tanker Eventin was discovered off the Baltic Sea coast after a technical malfunction and anchored off the island of Rügen. The vessel is carrying approximately 100,000 tons of oil.
❓ What happened
German authorities previously considered confiscating and subsequently selling the cargo, citing the EU sanctions regime against Russian oil. However, the court found that at this stage there are insufficient legal grounds to dispose of the vessel and its cargo.
As a result:
- the sale of oil is prohibited;
- the use of the cargo is suspended;
- the vessel remains under the control of the authorities until further decisions are made.
⚖️ Legal context
The court’s decision is temporary. The case is ongoing: the court is determining whether the vessel was detained legally, the origin of the cargo, and whether sanctions were violated.
Until a final decision is made, the authorities are prohibited from selling or using the vessel and cargo, to avoid causing irreversible damage to their owners.
The Eventin case demonstrates that enforcing sanctions in the maritime sector is challenging, especially when the vessel flies a neutral flag, the owners are opaque, and the destination is outside the EU. Such cases are shaping practices for other countries and influencing their approach to the detention and confiscation of “shadow fleet” vessels.
✈️ For shipowners and crews, this is a signal that even in cases of suspected sanctions violations, final decisions are made only through the courts. However, the risk of lengthy delays for vessels and cargo remains high.
Seamen’s Club 🇺🇦 | #news