Over the past 24 hours, three vessels entered the port of Tuapse, which is half the port’s average daily intake. Novaya-Europe drew attention to this after analyzing data from the VesselFinder service.
Among the ships that arrived at the port was at least one oil tanker. It is now anchored some distance from the shore. In addition, another oil vessel departed the port during the day. According to the port schedule, two more ships may arrive in Tuapse before the end of the day, including a dry cargo vessel from Istanbul.
At the same time, activity in the port of Novorossiysk, located about 160 km from Tuapse, increased over the last 24 hours. On April 21, 26 vessels entered the port, about 20% more than on previous days. It is expected that Novorossiysk will receive the same number of ships over the next 24 hours, mainly dry cargo vessels, oil tankers, and container ships.
On the night of April 20, Ukrainian drones attacked the marine oil terminal in Tuapse, killing one person. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev reported that a fire had broken out.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the attack targeted the Tuapse oil refinery, which forms a single production complex together with the marine terminal.
After that, reports of an “oil rain” appeared on social media. Classes in schools and kindergartens in Tuapse were canceled. At the same time, Rospotrebnadzor said it had not detected concentrations of harmful substances in the air. According to ASTRA, firefighters are still working to extinguish the blaze in the port.
The previous attack on Tuapse took place on April 16. After that, the operational headquarters of Krasnodar Krai reported an oil slick in the Black Sea near the port stretching 10 kilometers.