Twenty oil tankers wait to cross the Bosphorus Strait
Oil tankers wait at anchorage in the Black Sea off Kilyos near Istanbul, Turkey, December 8, 2022. REUTERS/Mehmet Emin Caliskan
ISTANBUL: Twenty oil tankers have been waiting in the Black Sea to pass through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Mediterranean, according to the Tribeca shipping agency, as talks continued to end the vessel build-up.
On Thursday, dismissing pressure from abroad over the lengthening queue, Turkiye’s maritime authority said it would continue to keep out of its waters oil tankers that lacked the appropriate insurance letters, and it needed time for checks.
Eight tankers were also waiting for passage through the Dardanelles strait into the Mediterranean, down from nine a day earlier, the shipping agency said, making a total of 28 tankers waiting for southbound passage.
The G7 nations, the European Union and Australia have agreed to bar providers of shipping services, such as insurers, from helping to export Russian oil unless it is sold at an enforced low price, or cap, aimed at depriving Moscow of wartime revenue.
Media reports on Wednesday cited the US Treasury Department as saying that US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo had told Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal in a telephonic call that the cap applied only to Russian oil and did not necessitate additional checks on ships crossing Turkish territorial waters
However, Turkiye has had a separate measure in force since the start of the month, which is causing a logjam.
It requires vessels to provide proof of insurance covering the duration of their transit through the Bosphorus strait or when calling at Turkish ports.
Ankara’s directorate general for maritime affairs said that it was unacceptable to pressure Turkiye over what it said were “routine” insurance checks. It said it could remove tankers without proper documentation from its waters or require them to furnish new P&I insurance letters covering their journeys through its territory. – News Agencies
