Tighter sanctions and containers: EU ports closed!

Ban on entry to EU ports

The news is not new at all - the EU announced a similar step almost a month ago. However, the strengthening of sanctions crept up unnoticed. If earlier the sanctions concerned mainly merchant ships, now they will concern the vast majority of ships flying the Russian flag.

Moreover, entry to the ports is also prohibited for those ships that have changed their Russian flag, having registered in another state after February 24, 2022. Now just changing the flag is not convincing enough. The tales of the captain of the Shtandart frigate after the flag change about the fact that he “does not support the policy of Vladimir Putin” will no longer be heard.

The restriction affects all Russian vessels subject to relevant international conventions, as well as all vessels over 15 meters in length not carrying cargo and pleasure craft as defined in Directive 2013/53/EU Recreational Craft Directive.

The ban, which will come into force on Saturday, April 16 (that is, today). This is truly an unprecedented measure in the maritime sector. 

The note from the EU Commission said: “The European Commission welcomes the agreement to adopt the fifth package of restrictive measures against the Putin regime in response to its war against Ukraine and its people. Together with the previous four packages, these sanctions will further increase economic pressure on the Kremlin and undermine its ability to finance its invasion of Ukraine. These measures are broader and sharper, coordinated with international partners to cut even deeper into the Russian economy.”

Coming Logistics Issues

The news is not directly related to yachting, but concerns the entire nautical sector. Large companies producing containers for the transportation of goods (including such an industry giant as Maersk) supported the sanctions and left the Russian market. 

It would seem that some containers are not a big deal! Yes, nothing, but according to the Russian company TransContainers, because of this, the container fleet will be reduced by a third. Do not forget that these containers were also used for domestic transportation. 

At the moment, it is reported that the Russian Federation urgently needs to replenish the supply of containers. Alas, for some absolutely inexplicable 🙂 reason, the Russian Federation has internal capacities for the production of containers at least close in quality to foreign ones.

To understand the scale of the tragedy, it is necessary to restore a fleet of 300,000 containers. Russian factories can produce a maximum of 10,000 containers per year. Because of this, the government of the Russian Federation took an interesting step - it allowed the reuse of containers. 

Why are containers such a problem? Because they are an important logistical unit on which the entire system rests. They deliver cars, food, tools - the list is endless. If we do not complicate and simply explain the importance of such a seemingly trifle, we recall the case of the beginning of COVID-19. Remember one merchant ship - Ever. Before that, no one could have imagined that one tanker could put the entire world economy on pause. It's about the same situation here.

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16.04.2022