JAZZ

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Denmark urged to board and inspect Russian shadow tanker off Skagen

Denmark is under pressure to board the 'Jazz', which is believed to be part of Moscow’s shadow fleet, and had suffered an engine failure. It is not known whether the Danish Maritime Authority has inspected the ship, but it reportedly has full authority to do so. The tanker has 50,000 tons of oil on board and is anchored off Skagen after having been disabled several times in the past two weeks, starting on Dec 29 and lasting until Jan 12, when it was adrift for a few hours. The ship was above submarine cables in the Baltic Sea during all engine stops. The ship, however, left the anchorage on Jan 16 at 8.30 a.m. en route to Tunisia.

Tanker stopped several times over cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea

The "Jazz", carrying 50,000 tons of Russian crude oil, loaded in Vysotsk, anchored off Skagen on Jan 13, two days after had an emergency. Due to engine failure, the captain had to slow down. The tankerhas reported engine problems three times within two weeks, reduced its speed or stopped altogether. And each time the "Jazz" drifted close to the C-Lion 1 data cable, which connects Finland to Rostock and which was presumably cut in Nov 2024 by the Chinese freighter 'Yi Peng 3', and then by the "Eagle S", which was then detained by the Finnish authorities. In the case of the "Jazz", there are also other cables and pipes at the stopping points in addition to the C-Lion 1 cable, nine in total. The first case occurred on Dec 29 at 5:45 p.m. near Hankö. At the time, the still empty tanker was only sailing at 1.6 knots. The C-Lion 1 cable as well as three other communication lines and a high-voltage cable were located under the the ship. After taking on 50,000 tons of crude oil in Primorsk, Russia, the ship stopped again, on Jan 9 at 4:23 a.m., this time off the coast of the island of Gotland. Just two days later, it drifted again seemingly aimlessly, again in the middle of the night, this time northeast of Rügen, again close to C-Lion 1 cable and this time also to the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline that connects Norway and Poland, perhaps in an attempt at sabotage that failed or a test to test the readiness of NATO countries. The "Jazz" suddenly changed course north of Rügen in the early hours of Jan 11 and slowed down. The emergency tug "Baltic" was temporarily withdrawn from the disabled "Eventin" to assist the "Jazz". In contrast to the "Eventin", the crew of the "Jazz" reported after a few hours that their ship was manoeverable again.

Another shadow fleet tanker troubled off Rügen

On the night of Jan 11, 2025, at 3 the 'Jazz', another tanker of the so-called shadow fleet, while en route from the Russian port Vysotsk with a cargo of oil and headed to Tunisia for orders, suffered engine trouble north of Rügen island and went adrift for a couple of hours. The emergency command in Cuxhaven deployed the emergency tug 'Baltic' to assist, which was nearby to tow the disabled shadow fleet tanker 'Eventin'. After initial troubleshooting, at 3 a.m. the problems re-occurred north of the island, and disabled the tanker again. At 7 a.m. it started sailing again with a costrained status. The emergency came just days after the "Jazz" suffered an engine failure south of the port of Hanko on Dec 30 and drifted at sea for a long time. At that time, the Finnish Coast Guard ordered a ship to the position to observe the tanker. The "Jazz" then sailed to the port of Vysotsk. The ship belongs to a Turkish company.