Sweden establishes 24/7 oil spill response team

Swedish authorities have set up a national environmental hotline to respond to major oil spills, as the country braces for potential disasters linked to the growing traffic of sanctioned Russian “shadow fleet” vessels in the Baltic Sea.

The hotline, operated by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, provides round-the-clock expertise to municipalities and county boards on combating and cleaning up oil spills. Experts are required to be on-site within 24 hours of an alert.

“We are on standby 24/7, all year round,” said Jonas Henriksson, oil spill expert and head of the hotline at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. He warned that a worst-case scenario could involve hundreds of miles of oil-covered shorelines.

Henriksson noted that most Swedish rescue services are trained for small-scale spills, such as those from tanker trucks or traffic accidents, but a shadow fleet incident would be on a far larger scale. In such cases, oil could spread across vast areas, severely affecting beaches, bird habitats, and shallow bays.

Germany is preparing to use aircraft to spray chemicals on large oil spills, breaking down the oil so it disperses into the sea—a method long banned but now considered for extreme cases. However, Sweden has not adopted this approach.

Henriksson acknowledged Sweden has improved its preparedness but said current resources would be insufficient for a major incident. “At best, we might handle 5,000 tons. But I’m skeptical even about that,” he said.

According to SVT, 262 sanctioned vessels, including the 27-year-old tanker Zambra—flagged in Cameroon and cited for navigation, fire safety, and rust issues—have transported Russian oil through the Baltic Sea in 2026.