Last week the NRC reported about a little-known refueling (bunkering) point in the south-west of the #Netherlands, at the entrance of the Schelde near #vlissingen. The newspaper uncovered that it is being used by a #shadow#fleet of often badly maintained and very old tanker vessels which play a pivotal role in turning sanctioned Russian #oil in to not sanctioned oil. The vessels make their way from Baltic ports along the North Sea, either to India or Turkey. The newspaper called this bunkering point "Putin's petrol station", because on the way back the sanctioned vessels stock up on fuel. The ships all fly under several different "flags of convenience" and as their companies get put on sanction lists, the ships move to other owners.
It is not often that international politics, global capital, supply chains, the news and infrastructure congeal the way it does at Putin's Pitstop so I had to go take a look #infrastructours.