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Britain has been urged to shut a loophole in sanctions targeting Vladimir Putin as a massive tanker carrying oil from Russia was allowed to dock in Derry’s Foyle Port.
The 184-metre ship Pluto arrived in Lough Foyle on Wednesday evening, having departed on February 15th from Primorsk, near St Petersburg. The Baltic Sea port is Russia’s largest for oil exports.
The tanker stopped off at Milford Haven in Wales en-route. It spent two days moored at a jetty adjacent to Foyle Port’s Lisahally docks before departing on Friday evening.
It is understood the cargo was destined for one of the North’s largest coal and oil distributors. The family-owned company has been contacted by The Irish Times but did not immediately respond.
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“The tanker has docked beside Foyle Port at the customer’s own private jetty,” a port source said.
“Even though it comes under the authority of Foyle Port, and the pilot boat guides it in, it is a private terminal.”
Flying under the flag of the Marshall islands, in the Pacific Ocean, the tanker is owned by Tufton Oceanic Ltd, a UK-based investment management company, according to marine traffic tracker Vesselfinder.
During the week, the UK government signed legislation “banning all ships that are Russian owned, operated, controlled, registered or flagged from entering British ports” from March 1st.
“It is mandatory for all ports and harbours to follow this legislation and the government will support all ports in exercising their responsibilities,” a UK government spokesman said.
Foyle MP and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who said Russian oil was not welcome in Derry, accused the British government of leaving a loophole open whereby Russian cargo can be brought into UK ports in non-Russian vessels.
“We should not be buying anything from Russia,” he said.
“The problem here are the sanctions, and the mess the British government has made of them. The cargo itself is not sanctioned.”
‘Tighten their sanctions’
Mr Eastwood said the oil cargo on the Pluto was “clearly ordered before the sanctions” and that he “wouldn’t put this on ordinary local people”.
“This is an issue for the British government to tighten their sanctions regime,” he said.
“If cargo has been ordered before the invasion of Ukraine, then the British government should compensate those who paid for it.”
In the UK, dockers have pledged not to unload Russian oil and gas, despite the loophole.
The Foyle Port source said if the Pluto was Russian owned, managed or registered “the port would have turned it away.”
“If the sanction was on the commodity they would not have taken it off. They have worked to the letter of the law. They are working perfectly legally.”
Mr Eastwood said the British government was not acting quickly enough to tighten the economic sanctions, ordered in the wake of Putin’s invasion on Ukraine.
“We are seeing this with this oil, and we are also seeing it with oligarchs, who have been given months to get their affairs in order before the British government makes a move on them,” he said.
“People can decide for themselves whether a Tory party heavily funded by Russian oligarchs has any questions to answer about that.
“But the only way to defeat Putin is to cripple him economically, and cripple his cronies economically, and we shouldn’t be able to trade Russian oil.
“It’s not the fault of whoever has bought the oil, these people need to be compensated if they come to any loss by the government, but the government isn’t acting here.”
A spokesman for Foyle Port said it is “currently operating to the parameters of the sanctions set out by the Department for Transport in London.”
“It has been highlighted to the department by the Port that the commodity on a ship is beyond the set sanctions,” he added.
“The vessel is not Russian owned, registered or managed.”
Stormont Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said she wrote to Britain’s transport secretary Grant Shapps on Friday “seeking urgent clarification” on whether sanctions “are intended to capture cargo of Russian origin, or indeed if Mr Shapps intends to bring about more sanctions in the future that will prohibit the landing in ports of Russian commodities.”
Tufton Oceanic Ltd was contacted but did not immediately respond.