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The 'Xin He Lu 2' was monitored by the patrol vessel 'Neustadt' of the German Federal police and NATO forces, including the French corvette 'Commandant Blaison' and a German corvette, during its unusual passage off the coast of Fehmarn, on its way to St. Petersburg, where it arrived on Oct 3, 2026. The Russian Navy escorted the freighter arriving from Taicang with the Buyan-M-class corvette 'Serpukhov', which was severely damaged in the spring of 2024 during an act of Ukrainian sabotage at the Baltiysk naval base Kaliningrad and has only been fully operational again since summer, spotted for the first time sporting a new checkerboard camouflage pattern on its superstructure. Due to the ongoing threat from Ukrainian sea and air drones in the Black Sea, the Chinese shipping company XHL Line is now avoiding the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Instead, it is now sailing to St. Petersburg via the Baltic Sea. Switching from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea route meant a significant extra effort for the ships: the freighters have to make a detour of around 4,000 nautical miles. After transiting the Suez Canal, the 'Xin He Lu 2' refueled off Gibraltar on Sep 22 and reached St. Petersburg only after a 40-day voyage.

The 'Key Fjord' was detained on Sep 24, 2026, in Ghent with 31 deficiencies, five of which being regarded as seriously and grounds for a detention: 1) Pollution Prevention - Oil filtering equipment Inoperative 2) Propulsion and auxiliary machinery - Auxiliary machinery Not as required 3) Fire safety - Fire dampers Not as required 4) Fire safety - Fire pump and its pipes Not as required 5) Emergency system - Emergency source of power - emergency generator Inoperative The vessel was released again on Oct 6 and left the port enroute to Valsneset. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E9rrrCCCC/

AIS tracking data indicated that the 'Minerva Zen' departed the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sep 22, 2026. On Oct 9, an official public authorisation was issued regarding the lifting of US sanctions on Russian-origin diesel imports. The tanker was headed to Wilmington, NC, with an ETA as of Oct 12. While the transit time from the Baltic Sea to the US East Coast is approximately 17–18 days, the vessel's imminent arrival, occurring within 24 to 48 hours of the official policy announcement on Oct 9, indicated that cargo loading and trans-Atlantic routing were initiated more than two weeks prior to the public regulatory shift, suggesting that the commercial logistics for this shipment were positioned in advance of the formalised policy change. On Oct 10 it was clarified that the ship was not carrying diesel, but urea, which was not sanctioned.

The 'Anastasiia', operating under US (OFAC) sanctions, has executed a sudden U-turn south of Sweden, while heading east before abruptly reversing course, and as of Oct 9 at 06:45 a.m. UTC, the ship was on a 277° heading at a slow speed of 5.1 knots, a profile consistent with open-water loitering. The ship's AIS destination field was completely blank. It had departed from Kaliningrad on Aug 26, 44 days ago. Operating for a month and a half without a declared destination was to be regarded as highly irregular for standard commercial transit.

The 'SVR Venus' was detained on Oct 5 in Burgas with eight detainable defiencies: 10127 - Safety of Navigation - Voyage or passage plan - no responsibility of RO; 11104 - Life saving appliances - Rescue boats - no responsibility of RO; 11113 - Life saving appliances - Launching arrangements for rescue boats - no responsibility of RO; 4114 - Emergency Systems - Emergency source of power - Emergency generator - no responsibility of RO; 5110 - Radio Communications - Facilities for reception of marine safety inform. - no responsibility of RO; 7105 - Fire safety - Fire doors/openings in fire-resisting divisions - no responsibility of RO; 7106 - Fire safety - Fire detection and alarm system - no responsibility of RO; 7110 - Fire safety - Fire fighting equipment and appliances - no responsibility of RO. The ship was released again on Oct 7 and left the port with destination designated as Liverpool with an ETA as of Oct 23. In fact, the 'SVR Venus' berthed in Tuzla on Oct 9 and continuedto the port of destination on Oct 10. The last detention of the ship was only on Feb 27, then still sailing as 'C. Epsilon', in Creeksea with 25 deficiencies, for seven days until March 5.