Russia’s Ust-Luga Port Orders Vessel Checks After Mystery Blasts

Ust-Luga, Russia’s largest port in the Baltic Sea, is insisting that ships’ hulls are inspected before the vessels are allowed to enter the facility, a sign of how a string of mystery blasts involving tankers that went to Russia are affecting the nation’s commodity trade.

The decision to start vetting vessels’ below-surface parts was taken earlier this month, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Ust-Luga is also insisting that arriving vessels must have Russian protection and indemnity insurance cover against risks including spills and collisions.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered that every vessel heading to Russian sea ports from abroad requires entry approval from the FSB, the main successor of the Soviet KGB security service. The vetting decision by Ust-Luga, where the first of the blasts happened, predates the decree and for now other Russian ports have not adopted the same approach, the people said.

The Ust-Luga port administration didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Bloomberg.

It was in Ust-Luga — the second-largest port for exports of Russia’s flagship crude Urals and also home to trans-shipment terminals for coal, ammonia, dry bulk and container cargoes — where the first of mysterious explosions happened earlier this year.

In February, the Koala oil tanker that was anchored in Ust-Luga suffered damage in what the local governor said at the time was a “man-made incident” that resulted in an oil spill. Earlier this month, the LPG tanker Eco Wizard, also anchored in Ust-Luga, reported an ammonia leak.

Putin’s order, which requires additional paperwork, led to temporary suspension of some oil loadings at Russia’s two major Black Sea terminals, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Still, oil-product and crude tankers continue to call at the nation’s port of Novorossiysk, the largest in the area, according to ship-tracking data on the Bloomberg terminal compiled on Thursday. Similarly, the situation at the CPC terminal — the other facility that Reuters said was affected — is normalizing, a person with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.

Putin’s decree follows earlier recommendations from Russia’s Security Council, a key advisory body for the Kremlin, to increase ports protection after the still-unexplained explosions on tankers.

In the aftermath, shipowners whose vessels had called at Russian ports began checking the hulls for mines with human divers and underwater vehicles.

Earlier this month, Russia’s main port authority announced a tender auction for underwater inspection of vessel hulls in all of the nation’s Baltic ports, including Primorsk and Vysotsk. The authority has earmarked a total of as much as 3.16 billion rubles ($40.4 million) for the services.