The Myra had departed from Russia a week earlier. It is regularly used to transport Russian oil, prompting the EU to sanction it last year.
The vessel is linked to a shipping company owned by the son of a senior figure in the Iranian regime. While it claims to be flag-registered in Cameroon, International Maritime Organisation records say this is false. This makes the Myra part of the so-called “shadow fleet”, a collection of hundreds of vessels, often registered under false flags, used to evade international sanctions regimes.
It is one of an increasing number of shadow fleet oil tankers travelling through Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the 450,000sq km of sea off the west coast where Ireland maintains certain sovereign rights.
In recent years, security officials have repeatedly warned of the risks posed by shadow vessels. EU countries have accused them of engaging in espionage and sabotaging undersea infrastructure on behalf of Russia. They have even been accused of launching drones to conduct surveillance operations against European countries.
Less discussed, however, is the environmental risk posed by these ageing oil tankers, particularly to the vulnerable marine ecosystems on Ireland’s west coast.
An Irish Times investigation shows the majority of these ships have serious safety issues, with many recently found to have structural defects, fire hazards or substandard pollution-control measures that could lead to an environmental disaster.
This includes the Myra. Since 2020, inspectors in Australia, Belgium, Russia and the US have identified 10 serious defects on the 20-year-old ship, including fire safety, structural integrity and watertightness deficiencies.
The Myra was empty when it passed Ireland last month, but around half of the Russian tankers taking the same route are laden with huge amounts of crude oil.
According to data provided to The Irish Times by Starboard Maritime Intelligence, a New Zealand-based maritime intelligence platform, 218 shadow fleet vessels have passed through the Irish EEZ since the start of this year, some multiple times.
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Of these, 208 were under EU sanctions, while the remainder were under sanctions imposed by the US, UK or New Zealand.
This is a 193 per cent increase in shadow fleet activity compared to the same period in 2025, according to figures provided by the Defence Forces.
A spokesman for the Defence Forces says the number of shadow fleet vessels increased in Irish EEZ waters after then-UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced British forces would begin boarding shadow fleet vessels crossing the English Channel.
“This elicited a change in pattern of life, with [Russian shadow fleet] vessels using the west of Ireland route instead,” he says.
In other words, instead of risking a naval boarding by taking the safer and quicker route through the channel, vessels are taking the longer route through the stormy waters of the north Atlantic, safe in the knowledge that Irish authorities have limited capacity to seize them.
The British followed through on their threat in June when Royal Marine Commandos boarded the sanctioned tanker Smyrtos as it passed through the English Channel.
“At this point, active enforcement in the channel became a real risk for the shadow fleet. So we saw tankers, especially tankers with false flags, diverting from the channel and over the north of Scotland and west of Ireland,” says Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a sanctions expert with the Royal United Services Institute in the UK.
The consequences of a single oil spill from one of these vessels could be devastating, Erausquin says.
Worldwide, there have been more than 50 collisions and oil spills involving shadow fleet vessels in recent years. Mostly recently, a sanctioned tanker carrying as much as 40 million gallons of Russian oil ran aground off Oman, contaminating many kilometres of coastline.
The increase in shadow fleet vessels off Ireland like this one exposes the State to “exponential environmental risks”, says Erausquin.
This view was shared by a senior officer with the Irish Military Intelligence Service in an interview last April: “If one of these single-skinned 19-year-old tankers hits a bag of crisps off the Aran Islands, you now have millions of tonnes of oil in the water, and there’s no more Wild Atlantic Way. We don’t have the capacity to deal with an oil slick that size.”
The condition of many shadow fleet tankers routing through the Irish EEZ suggests such a disaster may be a matter of when, not if.
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Under international maritime law, states must conduct periodic inspections of ships using their ports. International sanctions mean most shadow fleet vessels never visit EU ports. As a result, inspections are typically conducted by authorities in Russia, China and India.
The Irish Times analysed the most recent inspection reports for all 218 vessels that have travelled through Irish-controlled waters this year.
Safety issues were found on more than 156 of the ships during their last inspection, or 72 per cent. In total, 676 individual deficiencies were recorded across the fleet, including a single ship that had 20 defects.
If extreme safety issues are found, inspectors have the power to detain a ship until they are rectified. Fifty of the 218 shadow vessels, or 23 per cent, that passed through Irish-controlled waters have been detained at some point in the past.
Many of the tankers had issues which could directly increase their chance of sinking or causing serious pollution. Fire safety issues were recorded on 71 of the vessels, while structural issues were found on 22. Inspectors found pollution-control failings on 28 of the ships. Two ships had failings across all three categories.
Of even greater concern are ships that have not been inspected in many years. One tanker, the White Condor 1, has not been subjected to a port authority inspection since 2018, records show.
Another ship, the Beluga, has not been inspected since 2020, when officials found deficiencies around its ability to keep out water.
The Molly, an 18-year-old US-sanctioned tanker with links to the Iranian regime, last passed through the Irish EEZ in July. According to official records, it has never been inspected.
The age of these ships is also a matter of concern to officials. According to the maritime intelligence publication Lloyd’s List, the average age of a crude oil tanker is 14.
Records show the average age of the sanctioned vessels travelling off Ireland is 20. The Zambra, a tanker that last entered the Irish EEZ in June, is 27 years old. Its last inspection found eight safety issues, including fire hazards and poor structural conditions.
In 2023, it was briefly detained by Chinese authorities due to pollution-prevention and fire-safety issues.
Many of these shadow fleet vessels should have been scrapped years ago, says Erausquin. “Instead, they were simply being purchased second-hand by Russia to continue their operations in sanctioned trades.”
Russia attempts to hide its connections to the ageing ships by registering them in far-off countries with little ability or interest in enforcing safety regulations, he says.
“Ships can be registered with these countries in a matter of days and sometimes even hours,” says Erausquin.
The crews are often poorly trained, he says. “The companies are often restricted in accessing mainstream crewing agencies. So we see less qualified crews joining these operations, contributing to the risks.”
Irish authorities are slowly waking up to the risks posed by these vessels. According to a Department of Transport spokeswoman, the Coast Guard now conducts regular anti-pollution monitoring using satellite data and its newly acquired fixed-wing aircraft.
It is also drafting a new maritime oil spill contingency plan. Announcing the plan, the Coast Guard says the risk of a big oil spill is increasing “due in part to more shipping activity but also the emerging use of so-called ‘shadow fleets’ in Irish waters”.
“These fleets, which work outside of the normal regulatory oversight and sanctions regimes, often use vessels that are ageing, poorly maintained and do not meet accepted international safety standards,” it says.
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“Such vessels also operate without adequate inspections, certification or insurance coverage, significantly increasing the likelihood of incidents in Irish waters and environmental damage.”
The Defence Forces says its two new maritime surveillance aircraft are equipped with advanced sensors capable of detecting oil spills and other discharges.
“If/when potential pollution is observed, details are passed on to the Coast Guard for their assessment,” says the Defence Forces spokesman.
Monitoring of Russian shadow fleet vessels “forms a core part of every Naval Service sailing order”, he adds.
Earlier this year, Minister for Defence Helen McEntee announced new powers that would allow Irish naval personnel to seize shadow fleet vessels by force if necessary.
However, due to crew shortages, these new powers remain mostly theoretical. The Naval Service is currently only capable of deploying one or two ships to sea at a time, making monitoring such a large area of ocean extremely challenging.
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This must be urgently addressed, says Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews.
“The Irish navy must be fully equipped and empowered to tackle these illegal vessels, not only to fulfil our international obligations but to protect the Irish coastline,” he says.
