Lloyd's List

A FURTHER FIVE anonymously owned, elderly tankers including four connected to Gatik Ship Management — a major shipper of Russian oil to India — have joined Unic Tanker Ship Management Co Ltd, a highprofile Turkish shipmanager. This brings the tally of dark fleet* tankers joining Unic to nine over the past eight months, all deployed in Russian trades. The four tankers from Gatik or companies linked to Gatik were aframaxes Attica (IMO: 9436941), and Odysseus (IMO: 9332810), long range 1 product tanker Agnes (IMO: 9314167), and Voula (IMO: 9290828)...

THE EUROPEAN UNION’S Emission Trading System will be extended to include the shipping sector in less than two months. But with the roll-out of legislation fast approaching, concerns have been raised over industry readiness. These views were shared by Friederike Hesse, co-founder and managing director of Berlin-based startup Zero44, which offers software to guide industry participants on carbon regulations compliance, including the ETS. Speaking at Capital Link’s German Maritime Forum in Hamburg on...

WITH UNPRECEDENTED DROUGHT conditions expected to restrict Panama Canal transits far into 2024, shipowners are starting to consider rerouting fixed-day schedule services from Asia via the Suez Canal as executives brace for long-term disruption. There is growing disquiet among regular canal users that, even if the current weather conditions reverse the recently announced restrictions imposed by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), longterm investment in the canal still hangs in the balance and uncertainty is driving many to strategically review their reliance on the waterway...

THE NUMBER OF anonymously owned, elderly tankers from the dark fleet loading oil from Russia has surpassed Greece-linked vessels for a second consecutive month, as higher oil prices continue to recalibrate market responses to Western sanctions. Those tankers defined as being part of the dark fleet * comprised 39% of vessels that called at five key Russian Baltic and Black Sea ports during October, when measured by deadweight, Lloyd’s List analysis shows. Of those ships not classed as dark fleet,...

DESPITE THE APPARENT dismantling of Gatik Ship Management, all available public domain evidence points to the Mumbai-based operators remaining number one on the list of top 10 dark fleet operators in Russia. The 50-plus vintage tankers moved to nine different shipmanagers in the past eight months, demonstrating how nimble the business model used by anonymous shipowners in Russian oil trades can be to avoid beneficial ownership discovery. The changes were in response to intensifying public scrutiny of Gatik, its commercial operator Buena Vista Shipping LLP, and mystery backers...

TWO THIRDS OF tankers that called at key Russian Baltic and Black Sea oil export ports during May were covered by Western insurance providers, indicating wide compliance with sanctions and the dominant presence of Greek shipowners in facilitating shipments to third countries. Of the 191 tankers tracked calling at five export ports, 63 were not entered with any of the 12 protection and indemnity clubs that are members of the International Group. The International Group provides cover for 95% of the...

GATIK SHIP MANAGEMENT, the world’s largest dark fleet * operator, has reflagged four tankers to Mongolia and restructured some of its fleet’s technical management and registered ownership amid increased interest over who is financing the ships connected to the anonymous shipowner. Four of the 38 Gatik tankers that were deflagged by St Kitts and Nevis in April for breaching Western sanctions on Russia are now showing as flagged with Mongolia, according to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence database. A...

GENEVA-BASED FRACTAL Shipping has emerged as a significant shipper of Russian oil to the United Arab Emirates and China but the owners behind the fleet of 27 tankers it operates cannot be traced. The company is one of many established in the past 18 months in response to Western sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and is now the second-largest dark fleet operator after Gatik Ship Management, analysis by Lloyd’s List shows. The company’s fleet comprises one very large crude carrier, three suezmax...

Disputed cargo was discharged in China and is suspected to have been transferred from the Oman Pride, which was sanctioned in 2021 Leaked emails show that Niovi, the VLCC seized by Iran, delivered a cargo owned by Nimr International in November 2020 that the consignee, La Mere Maritime, sold without its approval. Nimr, which transferred the cargo’s title to Türkiye-based Baslam Nakliyat shortly after, was sanctioned by the US in 2021, while Baslam, part of ASB group, was sanctioned in December of...

IRAN SEIZED ITS second tanker in seven days in an alarming escalation of risk for Greek shipowners with vessels traversing the key energy commodities chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz The Panama-flagged very large crude carrier Niovi (IMO: 9292498) owned by Athens-based Altomare, was located north of Larak Island 10 hours later, according to satellite imagery provided by United Against Nuclear Iran. There are 29 crew on board from Sri Lanka and the Philippines, sources told Lloyd’s List. The US...

Altomare-owned Niovi taken by Iran while transiting Strait of Hormuz This is the second tanker seized in seven days in retaliation for the US seizure of Iran-origin oil on a suezmax tanker now sailing for US IRAN has hijacked a second tanker — the very large crude carrier Niovi (IMO: 9292498) was seized by Islamic Revolutionary Armed Forces while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet announced the seizure. The Panama-flagged vessel is beneficially owned by Altomare, according to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence database...

GABON-FLAGGED AFRAMAX Pablo (IMO: 9133587) changed flag six days before a fatal explosion in international waters off southeast Malaysia on May 1, after being cancelled by four other registries over two years for its links to shipping Iranian oil. The tanker also switched recognised organisation, name, and registered ownership earlier in March, as it prepared to reflag in Gabon, after being removed from Cameroon, Cook Islands and Tanzania flags from 2020 through to 2022. The tanker’s current classification...