The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 14 February 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of ships in the ‘dark fleet’ passing through the English Channel carrying Russian oil and oil products in (1) 2020, (2) 2021, (3) 2022, and (4) 2023.
Lord Davies of Gower (Con, DfT): Definitions of the ‘shadow fleet’ or ‘dark fleet’ vary and so it is not possible to provide accurate figures in relation to the English Channel. This practice has emerged since the introduction of the Russian Oil Services ban and Oil Price Cap Exception by the Price Cap Coalition of the G7, the European Union and Australia in December 2022.
However, the Joint Maritime Security Centre provides Department for Transport officials with daily vessel tracking reports for Vessels of Interest within or thought to be heading towards the UK Marine Area. This can include ships where a Russian link is identified, or where the vessel has transited from a Russian port, or engaged in a Ship-to-Ship transfer with a vessel which has departed from a Russian port.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether emergency planning is in hand in the event of an uninsured tanker leaking oil in British waters.
Lord Davies of Gower: Regardless of the insurance status of a vessel, the UK has well-established plans/protocols for the response to an oil spill. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the National Competent Authority for at-sea pollution response. MCA Counter Pollution and Salvage (CPS), under the direction of HM Coastguard, are custodians of the national pollution response resources which comprise specialist oil containment and recovery equipment and dispersant. These are supported by manned aircraft for spill surveillance, verification and quantification and aerial dispersant spraying capability. Personnel and resources are in place 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and provide an incident management and response capability anywhere within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Regular exercises are undertaken to test national multi-agency spill response procedures.
Whilst shoreline pollution response is led by local authorities and devolved nations, MCA CPS will support pollution response along the UK shoreline using nationally held containment and recovery capability held in the stockpiles.
Incident management, specialist response teams, and liaison personnel are also available and will be activated by the MCA as required. As with at-sea pollution response, regular engagement with local authorities in response exercises is undertaken. The resources held by the MCA are commensurate with a Tier 3 national response requirement as described within the National Contingency Plan for Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government whether they keep records of the occasions when oil tankers in the English Channel have turned off their transponders.
Lord Davies of Gower: This data is not regularly collated in this form. The Joint Maritime Security Centre provides regular reporting on vessels of interest in the UK Marine Area.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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