US Seizure of Rogue Oil Tanker Marks New Crackdown on Shadow Fleet
The oil tanker Skipper was navigating near the coast of Guyana when its location transponder showed it starting to zigzag. It was a seemingly improbable maneuver and the latest digital clue that the ship, which stores tens of millions of dollars’ worth of illicit crude oil, was trying to obscure its whereabouts.
On Wednesday, US commandos fast-roping from helicopters seized the 332-meter (1,090-feet) ship — not where it appeared to be navigating on ship tracking platforms but some 360 nautical miles to the northwest, near the coast of Venezuela. The seizure marked a dramatic escalation in President Donald Trump’s campaign to pressure strongman Nicolás Maduro by cutting off access to oil revenues that have long been the lifeblood of Venezuela’s economy.
Shadowy Fleet Expands
The ships cloak their locations by altering their automated identification system — a mandatory safety feature intended to help avoid collisions — to either go entirely dark or to “spoof” their location to appear to be navigating sometimes oceans away, under a false flag or with the fake registration information of another vessel. The dark fleet expanded following US sanctions on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Experts say many of the ships are barely seaworthy, operate without insurance and are registered to shell companies that help conceal their ownership. The vessels often transfer their cargoes to other ships while at sea, further obscuring their origins. For the most part, Maduro’s government has succeeded in using such tactics to get its oil to market.
Turning Point in Oil Smuggling
The country’s oil production has increased about 25% over the last two years, according to OPEC data. Still, Wednesday’s seizure could mark a turning point, experts said, foreshadowing a possible oil blockade that could deter smuggling from even some of the shipping industry’s worst actors.
“There are hundreds of flagless, stateless tankers that have been a lifeline for revenues, sanctioned oil revenues, for regimes like Maduro’s, Iran and for the Kremlin,” said Michelle Weise Bockmann, a senior analyst at Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks such vessels. “They can no longer operate unchallenged.”
Original Article: US seizure of rogue oil tanker off Venezuela signals new crackdown on shadow fleet — Yahoo