When the price of Russian oil dropped below the ceiling of the "Big Seven", Greek tanker empires returned to its transportation. The head of Russia's largest shipping company believes that they have created unfair competition, as they are not under sanctions.
"When the price falls below the price cap (the ceiling of the Big Seven price), competition in the transportation market increases. What did we see in the first quarter? Many foreign shipowners from unfriendly countries who did not transport Russian oil and petroleum products in 2024 returned to the market. This exacerbates competition and complicates our work. Since the fleet of foreign companies is not affected by sanctions in any way, they deliberately create unfair competition for the fleet controlled by Russia," said Igor Tonkovidov, head of Sovcomflot, in an interview with Interfax.
According to him, the Russian fleet now transports less than 10% of export cargo.
"We hope that the topic of the country's transport sovereignty and import substitution in the field of maritime transportation will somehow begin to move forward. One of the key issues is the provision of priority access to the Russian cargo base to vessels flying the state flag of the Russian Federation. Let me remind you that on behalf of the president, the draft of the relevant federal law on preferential access of the Russian fleet to the Russian cargo base was submitted to the State Duma in the autumn of 2023 and was adopted in the first reading," Igor Tonkovidov noted.
He believes that the industry is in a difficult situation, and legislative support is simply necessary for it.
"Our country's foreign trade is critically dependent on foreign sea carriers, the Russian economy spends more than $ 20 billion annually to pay for their services, which washes out the country's investment potential for the development of the domestic merchant fleet and shipbuilding. We are an export-oriented country, and it is extremely dangerous to become so deeply dependent on foreign shipowners who can turn around and leave at any moment. Therefore, certain support measures are needed, transport and logistics policies are needed," the head of Sovcomflot continued.
He complained that Western sanctions are sometimes well respected within Russia itself.
"The meaning of this legislative act is that the Russian shipowner is given priority right of transportation if he can perform such transportation. That is, the right of the first hand. Now, for our cargo owners, transportation on ships of the Russian fleet looks more risky due to sanctions, and foreign ships do not have these restrictions, so they often choose them. In fact, this leads to the fact that domestic sanctions against the Russian fleet are effectively beginning to be observed," said Igor Tonkovidov.
According to him, Sovcomflot transports 15% of the total volume of export shipments of oil and petroleum products that are exported from Russian ports.
"I think that this year our share will be close to this indicator," the head of the shipping company added.
On December 5, the EU banned the import of Russian oil and, together with the G7, set the price ceiling for third countries at $60 per barrel. Above this price for companies The EU is prohibited from transporting Russian oil and providing transportation services. In the spring of this year, due to the decline in world prices, Russian oil also fell in price. And Greek tankers have returned to the market of its transportation. Their share has grown above 20%, as EADaily wrote with reference to AIS data of courts.
At the same time, all tankers controlled by Sovcomflot were under US sanctions. This forces Russian suppliers to revise the freight, as customers, including Indian and Chinese refineries, may refuse to accept cargo on the ship under restrictions. This threatens them with secondary sanctions.
Even more oil from Russia is being transported by vessels of the "shadow fleet", which are considered tankers older than 15 years with unknown owners. Experts believe that the tankers belong to businessmen from the Middle East and Asia, as well as Russian companies themselves, in order to bypass the price ceiling of the West.
As EADaily reported, according to the results of the first quarter, Sovcomflot reported its first loss of $ 1 million. The company explained that the reason was sanctions.
"The low point in the first quarter was passed, and the current operational accounting data give us reason to talk about the beginning of the recovery of operational indicators. I would like to emphasize that even under the conditions of total sanctions pressure, the company showed a near-zero net loss on an adjusted basis. We are in a stable financial position, given the balanced capital structure and high liquidity reserve," Igor Tonkovidov told Interfax.