Ship with Russian oil leaves Dutch port for Gibraltar

The Sunny Liger, a controversial tanker carrying Russian oil, left the Port of Amsterdam Friday evening after being anchored near IJmuiden for nearly a week, NRC reports. A ship tracking website shows it is currently on course toward Gibraltar.

Niek Stam, director of FNV Havens, told NRC that he would inform the port employees in Gibraltar about the ship and the origins of its cargo. However, he was not certain whether the ship would be welcome there or whether it would try to unload.

Although it carried Russian oil and originated from Primorsk, the Sunny Liger flew under the flag of the Marshall Islands and could not technically be prevented from entering the port. However, employees at the Port of Amsterdam refused to unload the ship's cargo. The Amsterdam municipality and trade union FNV supported these actions.

Last weekend, the Ukrainian embassy in the Netherlands called on the Dutch government to demand the ship's "immediate departure." Minister Wopke Hoekstra (Foreign Affairs) also encouraged the port to find a solution so that the ship would not successfully dock. Before coming to the Port of Amsterdam, the Sunny Liger briefly approached the Port of Rotterdam, but also did not dock there.