Russia Drafts Port Ban on Foreign Ships Older Than 40 Years

Russia has opened public consultation on draft legislation that would bar foreign-flagged merchant ships older than 40 years from its ports, with the rules taking effect 180 days after official publication if approved.

The transport ministry published the draft this week, setting a separate, softer threshold for domestic owners: Russian-flagged vessels would face a 50-year age limit, with transitional arrangements tied to the remaining validity of their classification certificates. The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping would issue the compliance certificates.

Foreign tonnage between 30 and 40 years old would not escape scrutiny. The proposal requires annual inspections of foreign-flagged vessels older than 30 to confirm they meet safety and environmental requirements.

What would the new rules require?

The assessment regime goes beyond hull age. Inspectors would evaluate vessels against three criteria:

• inspection and repair records;
• technical condition;
• insurance coverage.

The compliance burden would extend across the commercial chain. Cargo transportation contracts would have to specify the use of compliant ships, and marine terminal operators would take on additional responsibilities for verifying that calling vessels meet the requirements.

For charterers and forwarders routing cargo through Russian ports, that language shifts part of the compliance risk onto the contract itself. Terminal operators, meanwhile, would gain a gatekeeping role they did not formally hold before, with the document-related liability that implies.

Why now, and why the delay risk?

The measure advances an initiative Moscow has developed for more than a year. The transport ministry first outlined the proposed 40-year limit for foreign ships in July, alongside plans for tighter oversight of ageing Russian tonnage.

The government's own timetable, however, admits a structural problem. Deputy transport minister Alexander Poshivay said last month that restrictions would not be adopted until the state was confident replacement vessels could be secured, and he acknowledged that domestic shipyards face constraints on capacity, pricing and construction times.

That caveat matters for the trade exposed to the rules. A large share of the tonnage currently calling at Russian ports — particularly tankers and bulkers in the shadow fleet carrying sanctioned crude and products — sits squarely in the 15-to-25-year band and above. A 40-year hard cutoff is a low bar for most mainstream operators, but the annual inspection regime from 30 years and the certificate-linked transition for Russian-flagged ships tighten oversight over exactly the cohort Moscow has leaned on since 2022.

What happens next?

The legislation remains a proposal rather than an enacted restriction. The consultation stage comes first, then formal adoption, then the 180-day runway to entry into force.

If the draft survives consultation unchanged, shipowners, cargo interests and terminal operators serving Russian trade lanes would have roughly six months from publication to align contracts, insurance documentation and inspection schedules with the new regime — assuming domestic yards can deliver the replacement tonnage the deputy minister says the timeline depends on.