A crippled ship, an EU problem and Malta’s security

The Arctic Metagaz cannot be allowed to drift across the Mediterranean Sea, especially if it still has a payload of fuels on board. The ship is a safety and environmental hazard waiting to happen and it is only thanks to nature’s forces that it has drifted away from Malta.

In its current, incapacitated state, there is absolutely no guarantee that the heavily damaged tanker will not drift back into waters closer to Malta.

Undoubtedly, the situation poses several challenges of a legal, security and environmental nature that are not easily resolved.

To start with, the ship is Russian flagged and in normal circumstances it would be the flag state that coordinates a response or serves as a focal point for impacted actors. But given Russia’s pariah status and the added complication that the Arctic Metagaz is, or rather was, part of the shadow fleet used to evade fuel sanctions, cooperation with the flag state becomes a legally tricky exercise.

The bigger and more immediate problem is the risk of severe sea contamination if the ship fails. If this happens, it is not just nature that takes the toll but also maritime activities like fishing and water production through reverse osmosis plants.

The Russian state should be clear about the fuel payload on board. This will help the authorities understand the nature of the risk involved.

What is clear though is that no one country on its own can deal with all these issues. Malta, along with four other EU member states, has rightly insisted that the Arctic Metagaz is a European problem that requires a joint solution and action plan.

Given the legal complications involved and the risks associated with a salvage operation of this scale, the EU must activate its civil protection response even if the ship remains adrift in international waters. A fuel leak knows no boundaries. An explosion could harm fishers and other seafarers. It is in no one’s interest that the Arctic Metagaz is left at the mercy of the wind and sea swell with individual countries silently hoping the problem comes nowhere near their coast.

Just as the EU has activated the civil protection mechanism for severe storms, flooding, wild fires and earthquakes that cause devastation on land, it should treat maritime disasters in the same way. For a small island state like Malta, which is dependent on the sea for its potable water and cooling systems for the Delimara power stations complex; and whose tourism and aquaculture industries could be fatally impacted, maritime disasters could be catastrophic, even if they happen outside jurisdictional waters.

But then there is the wider issue of security at sea. The mere fact that a ship like Arctic Metagaz can be struck by maritime drones operated from God knows where by an unknown actor—the Russians blame Ukraine and chatter on social media channels known to be close to Ukraine had from the onset indicated the Ukrainian secret service was behind the attack—lays bare the security risks any country bordering the Mediterranean Sea faces.

This is an issue of direct interest to Malta. The latest incident involves a ship that was very far off from Malta’s shores, but only last year, a drone attack on a humanitarian vessel happened just outside territorial waters in the busy Hurd Bank area.

Furthermore, Malta has strategic energy and communication infrastructure deep below the sea that connects it to mainland Europe and the world via Sicily. A targeted attack, or even an accident, on these subsea cables will cripple Malta.

Within this context it is in the national interest for Malta to be part of EU defence and security arrangements and financing mechanisms. The Armed Forces of Malta and other agencies must be in a position to monitor, detect, anticipate and address threats to the safety of the country, its people and infrastructure. And where the country lacks in resources because of its small size, it should be in a position to benefit from the EU’s overarching security and defence architecture. It is ridiculous that the AFM’s largest patrol vessel, which is also its most modern, the P71, has been out of action for almost a year because it is damaged. It is also problematic to have two out of three modern helicopters out of action. The situation on the ground jars with the political rhetoric that Malta is prepared.

Malta needs to invest more and intelligently in its defence and security because our economic prosperity and our quality of life could depend on it in an ever-increasing volatile world.