On February 20, 2026, New Zealand designated 100 shadow fleet vessels — its largest single-day maritime sanctions action since the Russia Sanctions Act was passed unanimously in March 2022. The move brings New Zealand’s total designated vessels to 210 and arrives just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
New Zealand’s action was the first in a tight cluster of anniversary-timed sanctions announcements. On February 24, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia each unveiled major packages of their own — each described by their governments as the largest since 2022. FleetLeaks has ingested and processed the new NZ vessel data. Here’s what the numbers show.
Key Findings
- 100 vessels added on February 20 — the largest single-day NZ vessel designation to date
- NZ total now stands at 210 designated vessels across four tranches since June 2025
- High overlap with UK (99%), EU (98.6%), and Canada (97.6%); lower with the US (30%)
- Of the 100 new vessels, 95 were already in Canada’s list and 35 in Australia’s — but zero in EU or UK individually
- 5 vessels appear only on New Zealand’s list and no other jurisdiction tracked by FleetLeaks
The Anniversary Announcements
New Zealand’s February 20 action preceded a cluster of major sanctions packages announced on the fourth anniversary of the invasion:
- United Kingdom (Feb 24): ~300 new designations including Transneft, which transports over 80% of Russian oil exports, and 175 companies within the 2Rivers oil network. Read our UK analysis.
- Canada (Feb 24): 100 shadow fleet vessels, 21 individuals, and 53 entities, alongside C$300 million in new military assistance for Ukraine. (Interfax-Ukraine)
- Australia (Feb 24): 180 individuals, entities, and shadow fleet vessels — including, for the first time, cryptocurrency entities enabling sanctions circumvention. (Ukrinform)
New Zealand also lowered its price cap on Russian-origin crude oil from $47.60 to $44.10 per barrel — the third reduction since the cap was implemented in February 2024 and a cumulative 26.5% cut from the original $60 threshold. Canada and Australia announced matching reductions on February 24. (MFAT, Kharon)
Note: FleetLeaks is still collecting and processing the updated machine-readable data from Canada and Australia. Both governments announced their packages on February 24, but the official data files typically lag 24–72 hours behind the political announcements. We will publish dedicated analyses as the data becomes available.
What Else NZ Targeted
The February 20 package went beyond tankers. Alongside the 100 vessels, New Zealand designated 23 individuals and 13 entities spanning four countries (Euromaidan Press):
- Russian military intelligence: 16 members of three GRU units, including six operatives from Unit 26165 (APT28/Fancy Bear), attributed to hacking campaigns targeting NATO members.
- Crypto sanctions evasion: Three co-founders of Garantex, the Russian cryptocurrency exchange seized by US and European law enforcement. A second crypto provider, Laitkhaus (Lighthouse), was also designated.
- Iranian drone manufacturing: Three board members of Qods Aviation Industries, involved in Shahed drone production at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone.
- North Korean enablers: Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and Sobaeksu United Corp., a front company for Pyongyang’s Munitions Industry Department.
- Belarusian arms: State-owned military manufacturer Alevkurp.
New Zealand’s Vessel Sanctions Trajectory
New Zealand only began designating vessels in June 2025 — making it the most recent entrant to vessel-specific sanctions among the six jurisdictions FleetLeaks tracks. In eight months, Wellington has moved from zero to 210 designated vessels across four tranches:
| Date | Vessels Added | Running Total | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 19, 2025 | 27 | 27 | First-ever NZ vessel designations; new category under Regulation 8 |
| September 12, 2025 | 19 | 46 | Expanded alongside oil price cap reduction from $60 to $47.60 |
| October 30, 2025 | 64 | 110 | Included actions against Belarusian, Iranian, North Korean enablers |
| February 20, 2026 | 100 | 210 | Largest single-day designation; oil price cap lowered to $44.10 |
The acceleration is notable. New Zealand has more than quadrupled its vessel designations in under five months. The Russia Sanctions Act was extended in February 2025 for an additional three years until March 2028, and a statutory review was presented to Parliament in November 2025. (MFAT)
Harmonization: Where NZ Fits in the Coalition
Using our cross-jurisdictional database of [fl_total_vessels] sanctioned vessels across six jurisdictions, we can map how New Zealand’s designations align with the broader coalition. Overlap counts are by IMO number; name and flag changes do not create new records.
NZ Overlap With Other Jurisdictions
Of New Zealand’s 210 total designated vessels:
| Jurisdiction | Overlap with NZ | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 208 of 210 | 99.0% |
| European Union | 207 of 210 | 98.6% |
| Canada | 205 of 210 | 97.6% |
| Australia | 108 of 210 | 51.4% |
| United States | 63 of 210 | 30.0% |
New Zealand’s target selection shows high overlap with the EU, UK, and Canada — all above 97%. The lower overlap with the US (30%) reflects OFAC’s broader targeting approach: the US sanctions program covers oligarch yachts, financial entities, and non-vessel assets alongside tankers, and its vessel-specific designations have focused more narrowly on tankers directly linked to sanctioned entities.
The 100 New Vessels: Who Had Them First?
Of the 100 vessels NZ designated on February 20:
| Already sanctioned by | Count |
|---|---|
| Canada | 95 of 100 |
| Australia | 35 of 100 |
| US (OFAC) | 6 of 100 |
| EU | 0 of 100 |
| UK | 0 of 100 |
The EU and UK zeros deserve explanation. These 100 vessels are largely drawn from the same pool that Canada and Australia have been targeting — tankers operating in Pacific and Indian Ocean routes that EU and UK lists haven’t yet reached individually. The EU and UK do sanction these vessels through separate tranche compositions and timelines; the high overall NZ-UK overlap (99%) is driven by the earlier tranches, not this one.
The pattern is consistent with coordination among Pacific-facing partners. In November 2024, Australia and New Zealand endorsed a UK-led Call to Action against Russian and North Korean shadow fleet activity. We cannot observe the underlying intelligence channels, but the overlap with Canada (95 of 100) and Australia (35 of 100) suggests shared targeting signals among these jurisdictions.
Prior to NZ adding them, 54 of these 100 vessels were sanctioned by only one other jurisdiction and 41 by two. NZ’s action adds additional jurisdictional coverage to vessels that previously had thin designation reach.
Five Vessels Found Only on New Zealand’s List
Five vessels in the February 20 batch do not appear on any other jurisdiction’s sanctions list in our dataset:
If other jurisdictions follow with matching designations in the coming weeks, that would be consistent with NZ identifying candidates earlier than partners. These five are worth tracking.
Flag Distribution
The flag distribution of the 100 new vessels follows a typical shadow fleet pattern:
| Flag State | Vessels |
|---|---|
| Russia | 21 |
| Panama | 15 |
| Barbados | 10 |
| Oman | 10 |
| Gabon | 9 |
| Sierra Leone | 6 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 4 |
| Cameroon | 3 |
| Cook Islands | 3 |
| Other (9 flags) | 19 |
Only 21 vessels still fly the Russian flag. The remainder have moved to open registries and flag-of-convenience states — the flag-hopping pattern that shadow fleet operators use to obscure vessel ownership and evade port-state controls. Panama, Barbados, Gabon, and Oman appear frequently across recent designations by multiple jurisdictions.
The Bigger Picture
With NZ’s latest designations processed, the FleetLeaks database tracks [fl_total_vessels] unique sanctioned vessels across six jurisdictions:
- European Union: 633 vessels
- United Kingdom: 594 vessels
- Canada: 610 vessels
- United States: 459 vessels
- New Zealand: 210 vessels
- Australia: 155 vessels
Fourteen vessels are now sanctioned by all six jurisdictions. Another 138 are sanctioned by five. As each partner adds designations, the enforcement surface expands — not just through port bans and asset freezes, but through the insurance and classification systems that underpin commercial shipping. Vessels appearing on multiple lists face compounding barriers to securing P&I coverage, classification services, and port access, which in practice can constrain operations more than any single country’s designation.
Explore the full harmonization data on our interactive dashboard →
What Comes Next
- Canada and Australia data: Both countries announced major vessel designations on February 24. FleetLeaks is monitoring the machine-readable source files and will publish analyses once the data is available.
- EU 20th package: The European Union’s planned anniversary package — which would replace the oil price cap with a full ban on maritime services for Russian crude — has been delayed by Hungary’s objections. If adopted, it would represent the most significant escalation in maritime sanctions enforcement since the price cap was introduced.
- The five NZ-only vessels: Whether other jurisdictions follow NZ in designating Bronco, Cheng He, Tempest Dream, Torx, and Tranquil Sea will indicate whether NZ is feeding targeting data upstream to the broader coalition. We’ll track these and report back.