The two river-sea tankers that suffered a capsizing and a grounding near the Kerch Strait in the Sea of Azov in December were part of a flotilla that had been bunkering Russia’s “dark fleet,” including at least three US-sanctioned deep sea tankers, claimed Russian investigative news outlet IStories.
The report claimed that sibling ships to the elderly Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, built in 1969 and 1973 respectively, were continuing in the same trade today, with many of them operating in open seas, beyond the limits outlined in their registration papers.
After the pair broke up as a result of a storm on December 15th, the consequent pollution of the heavy oil has been termed a major environmental disaster in the Sea of Azov, with oil turning up on beaches a significant distance from the events.
The wrecked pair of Volgonefts were constructed as part of a major Soviet construction programme that delivered hundreds of ships for the Black Sea-Volga so-called “river-sea” tanker and freighter fleet. However, it soon became clear that the “sea” part of the description was not particularly accurate. As the vessels aged, it became less accurate still.
Yuri Kurnakov, chairman of Russia’s Marine Trade Union, had confirmed in December that the Volgoneft fleet’s age and design was a known threat. “The problem with the Volgoneft type vessels has been known for a long time. These vessels are declared as ‘river-sea’ class, but in fact in Soviet times they were used for river shipping, at most with an exit to the bay at the river mouth. They were not intended for full-fledged sea shipping”.
In 2013, Russian Marine Engineering Bureau director Gennady Egorov published a technical review of the class’s design and its maintenance challenges. He concluded that “in the long term, ensuring sustainable safe transportation of oil and oil products on tankers of mixed river-sea navigation is possible only through new shipbuilding”. A dozen years later, the now ancient river tankers that are structurally dangerous if put to sea, are being put to sea far more often.
Istories said that the tankers were being employed to transport thousands of tonnes of bunker fuel from Russian refineries to a transshipment zone off Kavkaz, at the southern entrance to the Kerch Strait. They then rendezvous with, usually, a designated storage and offloading tanker, identified as the Firn (ex name SCF Caucasus).
Meanwhile, the cleanup of the lost Russian tanker Volgoneft-239 has been “largely” completed, according to Russian state marine rescue service Morspas.
The Volgoneft-212 sank in a severe storm about 5nm outside the Kerch Strait. The Volgoneft-239 broke up shortly after, and its stern section drifted aground on a rocky shore off Taman. The battered hull began leaking large quantities of fuel oil.
Both were carrying about 4,000 of tonnes of mazut, a Russian heavy fuel oil grade that solidifies at room temperature. An estimated 3,700 tonnes of this cargo spilled into the marine environment, fouling beaches from Taman to Anapa.
Morspas said that its mission with regard to the Volgoneft-239 was to reduce the risk of further oil leaks. Using earthmoving equipment, the salvors built a berm (flat strip of land, a raised bank) around the entire stern section, enclosing any further releases of mazut. The berm was reinforced with jacks to protect the wreck from wintertime wave action.
Before pumping off the tank contents, the salvors had to restore the ship’s cargo heating systems, so that the mazut became liquid again.
From January 19th to 25th, 1,500 tons of fuel oil were pumped out of the tanker into bitumen carriers, then transferred onto 20 railway tank cars, according to cleanup commission chairman Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev.
A truck platform reinforced with concrete slabs was installed on the berm next to the tanker. This supported the trucks receiving fuel oil from the vessel. Eight vehicles were involved in the round-the-clock pumping operations. Over the six days, 87 truckloads were removed from the tanker. Morspas said that the remaining fuel oil that could not be unloaded by the ship’s equipment was pumped out using hand pumps.
Morspas’s Azov-Black Sea branch has also deployed small boat teams daily to rocky, inaccessible shorelines, and reported that it had manually collected nearly two tonnes of oil-contaminated soil from hard-to-reach places. “No new sources of pollution were identified. We are collecting small local areas. There is very little left,” said Ivan Panchenko, deputy head of Morspas’ Caspian branch.
The Volgoneft-212 and the remains of its cargo have sunk. Vents have been plugged to prevent leakage, but the fuel oil that was released into the marine environment could take up to 10 years to degrade, according to Russian marine scientists.
For the Volgoneft-239 the plan of the salvors is to cut it up in place and haul it away in sections. Taman’s port captain has requested that the wreckage be removed by the end of March.