“The growth of the ghost fleet”, developed in particular by Russia and its allies to escape oil sanctions, “represents a new threat” for other ships and for the environment, worries the German insurer Allianz in a study released Wednesday.
“This fleet, the size of which varies according to estimates, could include up to 600 ships,” says the insurer.
“It would be made up of aging and poorly maintained ships, sailing under flags of convenience,” said Justus Heinrich, global director of marine insurance products at Allianz, quoted in the press release.
The increase in this ghost fleet could thus cause a major incident and “cause loss of life and pollution or other uninsured environmental damage”, he continues, a few weeks after an oil tanker, built in 1997 and uninsured, caught fire off Malaysia, several sailors having died in this fire.
The insurer is also concerned about the increased risk of fire, with in particular the more frequent transport of lithium-ion batteries likely to cause fires “difficult to extinguish” and which “can reignite spontaneously”.
The fall in the price of maritime transport “associated with the prospect of an economic slowdown, will have an impact on the budgets for maintenance and risk management”, he also warns. “This has happened in the past, leading to an increase in claims and incidents related to the degradation of machines,” notes Mr. Heinrich.
Despite these risks, the number of ships lost in 2022 stood at 38, the lowest figure for ten years.