Liberia Revokes Authorization for Russian Insurance Company Amid Sanctions

The Liberia Register, which holds 16% of the world’s ships under its flag, has revoked authorization for Russia’s Ingosstrakh Insurance Company to issue documents allowing ships to enter ports. The Liberian Maritime Authority has informed shipowners that Ingosstrakh can no longer issue certificates of insurance (blue cards) to Liberian-flagged vessels.

The blue cards are essential for ships to call at ports as they prove insurance against risks like oil spills and sea collisions. However, only three ships insured by Ingosstrakh are flying the Liberian flag, and none of them are oil tankers, according to an International Maritime Organization database cited by Bloomberg.

Ingosstrakh was sanctioned by the UK last week along with vessels from the “shadow fleet” and six companies operating in the Russian LNG sector. The West is working to limit the activities of the shadow fleet transporting Russian oil. Meanwhile, Denmark and other Baltic Sea countries, along with EU allies, are exploring ways to restrict the volume of Russian oil transported by the dark fleet in the Baltic Sea and Danish straits. Denmark worries that the old and uninsured tankers in the dark fleet could cause an environmental disaster in its waters through which Russian oil passes en route to the Atlantic.