German tourism association worried after oil tanker incident

Fortunately, the incidents have been relatively minor so far, he added. “But it’s hard to imagine what the consequences of a massive accident would be,” Woitendorf said.

On Friday, an oil tanker sailing under a Panamanian flag, drifted for hours in the Baltic Sea off the coast of the island of Rügen, unable to manoeuvre.

The tanker Eventin, loaded with 99,000 tons of oil, had to be towed with three tugboats away from the coast for safety reasons.

It was secured north-east of Germany’s largest island, according to Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies. Authorities planned to keep it there on Saturday to wait out the storm.

In mid-October, a fire broke out on a small oil tanker off the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligendamm within sight of the coast. The fire was extinguished and no oil escaped.

At the end of July, another tanker loaded with almost 100,000 tons of crude oil, made an emergency stop about 20 kilometres north of Rügen on its way from Russia to India.

The emergency was caused by engine damage that could not be repaired with the vessel’s on-board resources.

The Eventin, which was built in 2006 was en route from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Egypt’s Port Said, according to the ship tracking platform Vesselfinder.

The ship is part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” used to export oil despite heavy sanctions on the country, according to a list of Russian-linked vessels compiled by the environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace.

Ships in the “shadow fleet” are often outdated and in poor operating condition.