Captain of Shadow Fleet Tanker Pleads Guilty to Refusing Coast Guard Orders
The captain of the shadow fleet tanker Bella 1, pursued for weeks by the U.S. Coast Guard, entered a guilty plea on June 12 in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for defying Coast Guard commands. Avtandil Kalandadze, a 47-year-old Georgian national, led the USCG on an extended chase from the Caribbean into the North Atlantic until authorities seized the vessel on January 7.
Kalandadze’s actions carried significant consequences, as disobeying a directive to heave to carries a maximum five-year prison term without aggravating factors, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Sentencing is set for August 7, and prosecutors stated Kalandadze will face deportation upon completing his sentence.
Vessel’s Operations Under Scrutiny
Under the plea deal, Kalandadze commanded the motor tanker Bella 1 from September 2025 through late December 2025. During that tenure, the ship moved roughly 1.8 million barrels of Iranian crude to Asia. U.S. officials alleged Kalandadze employed standard concealment methods, such as operating with a disabled Automatic Identification System (AIS) and hiding the vessel’s name during a ship-to-ship transfer of the Iranian oil to another vessel.
Coast Guard Pursuit and Seizure
In December 2025, while under his command, the Bella 1 was heading toward Venezuela when the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro intercepted it. The tanker ignored the order to heave to and escaped across the Atlantic. The U.S. claimed that, following instructions from a corporate representative of the vessel’s operator, Kalandadze took various actions to evade capture, including ignoring multiple commands from authorized federal law enforcement officers on the Munro and destroying onboard records and data.
Vessel’s History and Current Status
The operators also sought Russian protection, declaring the ship renamed Marinera and reflagged under Russia. After the U.S. halted the vessel, it was brought to Scotland. There, U.S. authorities faced accusations of spiriting the captain away overnight to thwart legal attempts to block his removal. Homeland Security and the FBI asserted the tanker engaged in a reckless weeks-long chase across the Atlantic and employed numerous deceptive tactics to avoid detection while moving millions of barrels of Iranian-linked oil.
Reports noted the U.S. eventually towed the tanker across the Atlantic, though many lost track of it, and its ownership remained unclear. The vessel recently changed its name to Era and is now listed under the Comoros flag. Its AIS shows it underway, scheduled to reach Trinidad next week. This marks the ninth identity for the 318,518-dwt tanker, constructed in 2002.
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