UK Activists Stop Russian Tanker With $36.5M Of Diesel

Greenpeace activists have stopped a tanker carrying 33,000 tons of Russian diesel worth an estimated $36.5 million from docking in Essex.

Dodging security, 12 Greenpeace volunteers got onto the Navigator Terminals jetty on the River Thames late on Sunday night. According to the organization, they set themselves up to prevent the Andromeda tanker from docking and unloading its cargo.

Greenpeace added that police began making arrests in the early hours of this morning, but several activists are still in place. With one on the offloading pipes, another hanging off the jetty while others are occupying the jetty preventing the tanker from docking.

The tanker turned around in the Thames shortly after the activists got into position. As of 9 AM London time, the Andromeda is anchored off the coast near Margate.

The Andromeda tanker is carrying fuels from the Russian port of Primorsk, supplied by the LLC KINEF refinery. The company buying the fuel is energy and commodities trader Vitol.

Greenpeace has even developed the Russian Tanker Tracker which makes it possible to see when tanker shipments of fossil fuels are leaving Russia, and when they’re set to arrive in ports in the UK and around the world. This way, activists know when and where to protest shipments of Russian fossil fuels.

The environmental organization has reminded that oil and gas accounts for 40 percent of Russia’s federal budget and makes up 60 percent of its exports. In October 2021, Russia made more than $500 million a day from fossil fuels.

“The UK’s attachment to fossil fuels has backfired in the worst way possible – we’re funding a war, our energy bills and fuel costs are sky-high, and we’re driving the climate crisis. It has to stop,” Georgia Whitaker, oil and gas campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said.

“Putin invaded Ukraine nearly three months ago, and yet fossil fuel money from the UK is still funding his war chest. Ministers have kicked a ban on Russian oil imports to the end of the year despite strong public support for it,” she added.

To remind, Boris Johnson urged Europe to stop buying Russian fossil fuels and called for all UK ports to block Russian-flagged ships from docking back in March. But thanks to a loophole in government sanctions, Russian fossil fuels are still able to arrive in the UK.

The protest in the UK comes only weeks after an almost identical protest took place in Norway where activists blocked the oil tanker Ust Luga, preventing it from offloading Russian oil into the port.

Activists called on the Norwegian government to ban the import of Russian fossil fuels and demanded that Esso cancels all of its contracts for fossil fuels from Russia during this time of war in Ukraine.

To contact the author, email bojan.lepic@rigzone.com

Header image: © Fionn Guilfoyle / Greenpeace