Shadow ports in occupied Ukraine?

Recently, the Russian government added the seaports of Berdiansk and Mariupol in occupied Ukrainian territory to the list of ports of the Russian Federation open to foreign vessels, a move strongly condemned by Ukraine and a breach of international sanctions.

This development highlights how relevant ports and shipping are in international sanctions, but also that securing compliance with sanctions is far from straightforward. In shipping, hundreds of old oil vessels are used to avoid sanctions on Russian oil trade, even though it is quite well known where they are sailing and what they are shipping. This shadow fleet has enabled Russia to generate large revenues, which have helped sustain its war in Ukraine. It has been shown that multiple western shipowners and ship agencies benefitted from this shadow fleet.

Probably emboldened by the inability of (international) institutions to enforce sanctions, Russia has now taken a step aimed at re-opening the seaports of Berdiansk and Mariupol in occupied Ukrainian territory. An IMO resolution agreed to consider these ports as closed and calls on member states to ensure no ships call these ports. Russia’s new move calls for developing an effective ‘compliance regime’ to prevent that these ports will effectively become ‘shadow ports’ which manage to handle ships notwithstanding the sanctions and the IMO resolution. With all the international turmoil currently ongoing, the public and policy attention required for developing an effective compliance regime are not guaranteed. The first step towards effective compliance seems to be effective monitoring of any loading and unloading activity in both ports. The most intuitive additional step in a compliance regime would be for Türkiye to close the Bosporus for ships originating from Berdiansk and Mariupol. That would be in line with Türkiye’s official position that it is bound by UN sanctions, but nothing beyond that. In any case, this development further puts the spotlight on Türkiye, and its evolving relations with the US, EU, and Russia.