On September 27, 2022, operators of the St. Petersburg VTS of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch prevented an emergency situation with the tanker STI ST Charles (flag Marshall Islands) in the area of Rodsher Island.

A tanker with a length of 183 m, carrying a cargo of oil products with a volume of more than 37.2 thousand tons, was following from the seaport of Ust-Luga. At 01:20 pm Moscow time, the tanker, being north of Rodsher Island, began overtaking the bulk carrier Emerald Dongji (flag Hong Kong) with a length of 229 m that was following from the seaport of Ust-Luga with a cargo of 76.2 thousand tons of coal. During the overtaking maneuver, the STI ST Charles tanker went beyond the established path of movement and ended up in an area where there was a rocky shoal with the lowest depth of 13.6 m. Considering that the draft of the tanker was 12.9 m, and taking into account that the water level in this area of vessel traffic was lowered by 40 cm, there was a danger of landing the tanker on a shoal, which, in turn, could lead to human casualties and serious environmental damage.

In order to prevent an emergency, shift supervisor Igor Trofimets and VTS operator Aleksandr Koren, the St. Petersburg VTS operators who were on duty, promptly responded to the automatic alarm and transmitted a warning, as well as recommendations to the STI ST Charles tanker and the Emerald Dongji bulk carrier to perform a safe overtaking maneuver.

Having received warnings from the operators of the St. Petersburg VTS, the tanker STI ST Charles changed course and returned to the limits of the established corridor of the route. At the same time, the Emerald Dongji bulk carrier also changed its course so that to maintain a safe distance during the tanker’s overtaking maneuver.

Thanks to the professional and timely actions of the St. Petersburg VTS duty shift, the emergency situation was safely prevented.