Venturing onto Thin Ice: Russian Ports Face Million-Dollar Ship Inspections

The Russian government has mandated that port operators pay for underwater inspections of vessels for explosives - a service that costs up to 1 million rubles and is already stalling due to a shortage of divers. The corresponding decree was adopted on November 25.

Now, any entry of a foreign vessel is subject to FSB approval, and at the slightest doubt, the port is obliged to organize a survey of the hull. Formally, the expenses can be charged to the shipowner, but the operators are responsible for the process itself.

As a result, the cost of inspection in some regions has tripled, up to a million, and in the Far East, there are simply no divers. The new measures were already tested in Ust-Luga in the summer, where control was tightened to the limit after a series of incidents - explosions on the tanker Koala, ammonia leak on the Eco Wizard.

Now, the scheme has spread to the Azov-Black Sea ports, and the industry is preparing for winter, fearing an ice pause when it will be almost impossible to carry out inspections.

Stevedores call the requirement unusual and unjustified: security fees are already included in shipowners' tariffs. Everyone is tense because of the upcoming ice, they said in the ports, where there is already a growing shortage of specialists and equipment.

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• Almost 800 million rubles allocated for underwater surveys in the Arctic and Far Eastern ports