Overview
- Greenpeace published an analysis showing that between March 6 and June 16 forty-two of 136 tankers it associates with the shadow fleet used a longer route near Rügen and about 31 of those entered Germany’s 12-mile zone.
- Sweden tightened controls on the Bornholm–Sweden corridor in early March and detained several suspected tankers, and recent stops by France and the UK appear to have pushed some traffic toward German waters.
- German federal authorities told reporters they cannot confirm Greenpeace’s counts and cited the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and operational and security limits as reasons routine boardings or inspections are constrained.
- NGOs warn the rerouted ships are often old, badly maintained and under- or uninsured, which raises the risk of major spills and costly cleanups, a danger illustrated by the January 2025 Eventin grounding off Rügen.
- Independent investigations and datasets document the shadow fleet’s scale — more than 700 tankers and roughly 85,000 crew movements from 2023–2026 — and report some vessels may carry armed guards, prompting calls for legal reform to allow inspections and to criminalize sailing without a valid flag.