Archive
Shadow fleet news in 2025
74 summaries of reporting on sanctioned seaborne trade in 2025, newest first.
Dec · Nov · Oct · Sep · Aug · Jul · Jun · May · Apr · Mar · Feb · Jan
December 2025
- US sanctions four firms and four tankers in Venezuela's oil trade
The US Treasury sanctioned four companies operating in Venezuela's oil sector and identified four tankers as blocked property, saying some belong to a shadow fleet serving Venezuela. Treasury…
- Finland detains cargo ship Fitburg over cable damage and finds sanctioned Russian steel
Finnish authorities detained the St Vincent and Grenadines-flagged cargo ship Fitburg on suspicion that its anchor damaged a telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Tallinn, Euronews…
- Crew paints Russian flag on tanker Bella 1 as US Coast Guard pursues it across Atlantic
The crew of the US-sanctioned tanker Bella 1 painted a Russian flag on its hull and claimed the ship was now under Russian authority while being trailed by the US Coast Guard, Euronews reports.…
- Bellona counts 100 sanctioned vessels on the Northern Sea Route in 2025
Sanctioned vessels made up nearly a third of ships on Russia's Northern Sea Route in 2025, with 100 identified against 13 in 2024, according to a Bellona report described by gCaptain. They…
- US seizes second tanker off Venezuela, the Panama-flagged Centuries
The US Coast Guard, supported by the Pentagon, seized the Panama-flagged tanker Centuries carrying crude oil off Venezuela, its second seizure in two weeks, Euronews reports. Homeland Security…
- Ukraine strikes tanker Qendil in the Mediterranean, its first attack outside the Black Sea
Ukrainian aerial drones struck the Oman-flagged tanker Qendil in the eastern Mediterranean off Crete, more than 2,000 kilometres from Ukraine, Euronews reports. An SBU source said the empty…
- US sanctions 29 Iran shadow fleet tankers and an Egyptian businessman
The US Treasury sanctioned 29 vessels it says belong to Iran's shadow fleet, together with their management firms and Egyptian businessman Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, whose companies it…
- Trump orders blockade of sanctioned tankers entering and leaving Venezuela
President Donald Trump announced on social media a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, NPR reports via WFAE, saying the country was surrounded by a huge US naval…
- US sanctions Maduro relatives, Venezuelan shipping firms and six tankers
The US Treasury sanctioned three nephews of Cilia Flores, wife of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, a businessman linked to Maduro and six shipping companies in Venezuela's oil sector. It also…
- US seizes sanctioned tanker Skipper off Venezuela
US forces seized the Guyana-flagged tanker Skipper, formerly Adisa, off Venezuela on 10 December under a seizure warrant, USNI News reports. A boarding team from the FBI, Homeland Security…
- Third shadow tanker in a month hit by suspected Ukrainian drone boats
The suezmax tanker Dashan (IMO 9299666), formerly Mianzimu, was hit near the engine room by at least two drone boats in the Black Sea while sailing empty towards Novorossiysk, The Maritime…
- Russian-flagged tanker Midvolga-2 reports drone attack off Turkey
The Russian-flagged tanker Midvolga-2, carrying sunflower oil, reported a drone attack about 80 miles off Turkey's Black Sea coast on 2 December, gCaptain reports, citing Turkish authorities.…
November 2025
- Ukraine claims drone strikes on sanctioned tankers Kairos and Virat off Turkey
Ukraine's SBU security service and navy said they used a new version of the Sea Baby naval drone to attack the tankers Kairos and Virat in the Black Sea off Turkey, The Maritime Executive…
- Turkish owner halts Russian trade after explosions flood tanker Mersin off Dakar
The Panama-flagged tanker Mersin was hit by four external explosions while at anchor off Dakar, Senegal, on 27 November, flooding its engine room, Euronews reports. The crew were safe and no one…
- US targets front companies selling oil for Iran's armed forces after the 12-day war
The US Treasury sanctioned front companies and shipping facilitators it says sell crude oil to fund Iran's armed forces, which it argues have leaned more heavily on oil sales to rebuild after…
- Danish pilots report uniformed Russian men aboard shadow fleet tankers
Danish investigative outlet Danwatch has documented accounts of uniformed Russian men aboard shadow fleet tankers passing through the Danish straits, The Maritime Executive reports. A licensed…
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards seize tanker Talara in the Strait of Hormuz
Revolutionary Guards personnel boarded the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Talara by helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on 14 November and took it into Iranian waters, US Central Command said.…
October 2025
- EU's 19th package adds 117 vessels and bans Russian LNG imports
The EU's 19th sanctions package, adopted on 23 October, lists 117 more vessels, taking the number of sanctioned ships to 557, and widens the criteria for listing shadow fleet ships, Latvia's…
- US sanctions Rosneft and Lukoil, citing Russia's lack of commitment to peace
The US Treasury designated Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's two largest oil companies, saying Moscow had shown no serious commitment to a peace process in Ukraine. Secretary Scott Bessent said it…
- UK sanctions Rosneft, Lukoil and 44 shadow fleet tankers
The UK sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, which together export 3.1 million barrels a day, in what it called its strongest sanctions yet. The 90 designations also…
- US sanctions Iranian LPG network, a Chinese terminal and nearly two dozen tankers
The US Treasury sanctioned more than 50 individuals, entities and vessels involved in selling and shipping Iranian oil and liquefied petroleum gas. The action targets a network moving hundreds…
- Finnish court says it has no jurisdiction in Eagle S cable case
The Helsinki District Court ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to try the captain and two officers of the tanker Eagle S and dismissed the charges over damage to Baltic Sea cables, public…
- French forces board sanctioned tanker Boracay off Saint-Nazaire
French military personnel boarded the tanker Boracay, anchored off Saint-Nazaire, after it sailed from Primorsk on 20 September, gCaptain reports. The ship is under UK and EU sanctions and had…
September 2025
- UK sanctions 70 more shadow fleet ships
The UK announced 100 sanctions as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper travelled to Kyiv, including 70 more ships in the fleet carrying Russian oil exports, along with suppliers of military…
- US sanctions 32 Houthi-linked targets and four vessels
The US Treasury designated 32 individuals and entities and identified four vessels in what it called its largest action yet against Yemen's Houthis. The targets in Yemen, China, the UAE and the…
- US targets second network blending Iranian oil and selling it as Iraqi
The US Treasury sanctioned shipping companies and vessels led by Iraqi-Kittitian businessman Waleed al-Samarra'i, saying the network covertly blends Iranian oil with Iraqi oil and markets it as…
August 2025
- US sanctions Greek shipping veteran Antonios Margaritis and Iran shadow tankers
The US Treasury sanctioned Greek national Antonios Margaritis, his companies and nearly a dozen vessels it says belong to Iran's shadow fleet, accusing him of using decades of shipping…
- Finland charges Eagle S captain and officers over Christmas Day cable damage
Finland's deputy prosecutor general charged the Georgian captain and two Indian officers of the tanker Eagle S with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications,…
- Panama closes its registry to tankers and bulkers over 15 years old
Panama's ship registry will reject new registrations of oil tankers and bulk carriers older than 15 years, gCaptain reports, citing the Panama Maritime Authority. The authority says the aim is…
July 2025
- US hits Shamkhani shipping empire in its largest Iran action since 2018
The US Treasury designated more than 50 individuals and entities and identified more than 50 vessels belonging to the shipping network of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of a senior adviser to…
- US sanctions Yemeni and UAE fuel importers it says fund the Houthis
The US Treasury designated two individuals and five entities in Yemen and the UAE that it describes as among the most significant importers of petroleum products into Houthi-held territory, and…
- UK sanctions 135 tankers and the firm registering shadow ships under Gabon's flag
The UK sanctioned 135 oil tankers it says have carried $24 billion of cargo since the start of 2024, as it and the EU lowered the crude oil price cap. Also listed was Intershipping Services,…
- EU's 18th package lists 105 more vessels and cuts the oil price cap to $47.6
The EU's 18th sanctions package adds 105 vessels to its list of banned ships, taking the total to 444, and lowers the price cap on Russian crude from $60 to $47.6 a barrel with reviews every six…
- Explosions hit gas carrier Eco Wizard while loading ammonia at Ust-Luga
Two explosions about ten minutes apart struck the engine room of the Marshall Islands-flagged gas carrier Eco Wizard as it loaded ammonia at the EuroChem terminal in Ust-Luga on 6 July, Marine…
- US sanctions Iraqi businessman's network for passing off Iranian oil as Iraqi
The US Treasury sanctioned a network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said that it says profited from smuggling Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil, with some…
- Operator says explosive device holed tanker Vilamoura that had called at Russian ports
TMS Tankers says preliminary findings show the tanker Vilamoura was damaged by an unidentified explosive device off Libya, Riviera Maritime Media reports. The blast flooded the engine room and…
June 2025
- US takes its largest action yet against Houthi oil imports and front companies
The US Treasury sanctioned four individuals, 12 entities and two vessels in what it called its largest action to date against Yemen's Houthis. Treasury says the targets include front companies…
- Fourteen northern European states warn they will act against stateless and falsely flagged ships
Foreign ministers and officials of 14 countries around the Baltic and North Seas, including the Nordic and Baltic states, Germany, France, Poland and the UK, issued a joint statement on Russia's…
- UK sanctions 20 tankers and firms that crew and manage shadow fleet ships
The UK sanctioned 20 more shadow fleet oil tankers as G7 leaders met, and listed Orion Star Group and Valegro, which it says crew and manage shadow fleet vessels. Two UK residents accused of…
- Tanker Adalynn catches fire after colliding with Front Eagle off Fujairah
The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged tanker Adalynn and the Frontline-operated Front Eagle collided about 15 nautical miles off Fujairah in the UAE early on 17 June, and both ships caught fire,…
May 2025
- Sweden to check insurance of all ships in its waters from July
Sweden will require insurance documents from vessels passing through its territorial waters and economic zone from 1 July 2025, even if they do not call at Swedish ports, The Maritime Executive…
- Eleven-nation monitoring team says Russia supplied North Korea with oil far above UN cap
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, set up by 11 countries including the US, UK, Japan and South Korea after a UN panel was disbanded, published its first report on North Korean-Russian…
- Finland says Russia has begun escorting shadow tankers with warships
Russia has started using military escorts for shadow fleet tankers in the Gulf of Finland, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen said, according to gCaptain. The outlet describes it as a…
- UK adds 18 ships and a British shadow fleet procurer to its sanctions
The UK sanctioned 18 more shadow fleet ships on 20 May, together with enablers including John Michael Ormerod, a British national it says procured vessels for Russia's shadow fleet, and two…
- Polish military turns away shadow fleet tanker manoeuvring near Poland-Sweden cable
A tanker recently added to the list of shadow fleet ships made suspicious manoeuvres near the power cable linking Poland and Sweden on 20 May, outside Polish territorial waters, the Polish…
- EU's 17th package adds 189 shadow fleet ships, taking its list to 342
The EU adopted its 17th sanctions package against Russia, adding 189 vessels to its list of ships banned from EU ports and services and bringing the total to 342, Ship & Bunker reports. The…
- Russia detains Greek-owned tanker Green Admire after it leaves Estonian port
Russia detained the Liberia-flagged, Greek-owned tanker Green Admire as it left the Estonian port of Sillamäe on an agreed route through Russian waters, Estonia's Foreign Ministry said on 18…
- US targets firms selling oil for Iran's armed forces general staff
The US Treasury sanctioned nearly two dozen firms it says are involved in almost every part of Iran's oil trade on behalf of the Armed Forces General Staff and its commercial arm, Sepehr Energy.…
- Russian fighter jet enters Estonian airspace after navy tries to inspect tanker Jaguar
Estonia's navy tried to inspect the tanker Jaguar in its economic zone on 13 May, but the ship ignored an order to anchor and was escorted out of Estonian waters, ERR News reports. That evening…
- UK sanctions up to 100 shadow fleet tankers in its largest package against the fleet
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced sanctions on up to 100 oil tankers at a Joint Expeditionary Force meeting in Oslo, in what the UK called its largest package against Russia's shadow fleet.…
- US sanctions third teapot refinery and, for the first time, Shandong oil terminals
The US Treasury designated Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group, a third Chinese independent refinery, and three port terminal operators in Shandong province that it says bought or handled hundreds of…
April 2025
- US sanctions three ships that delivered fuel to Houthi-held ports after licence expired
The US Treasury sanctioned three vessels and their owners for discharging fuel at the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Ras Isa after a US general licence permitting such deliveries expired on 4…
- EU requires ships in its waters to file insurance details
The European Commission amended the Vessel Monitoring Directive to require all ships operating in EU waters, including those only passing through, to provide insurance information, The Maritime…
- US targets Iranian LPG magnate whose tanker tried to load off Houston
The US Treasury sanctioned Iranian businessman Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his network, which it says shipped hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and…
- US sanctions second Chinese teapot refinery and more Iran shadow fleet tankers
The US Treasury designated Shandong Shengxing Chemical, an independent refinery in China it says bought over a billion dollars' worth of Iranian crude, including from a front company for the…
- Estonia detains stateless tanker Kiwala with 40 deficiencies
Estonian authorities detained the oil tanker Kiwala in Muuga Bay on 11 April after an inspection found 40 deficiencies, 29 of them serious, the Estonian Transport Administration said. The ship…
- US sanctions UAE-based shipowner Jugwinder Singh Brar and his tanker fleet
The US Treasury designated Jugwinder Singh Brar, an Indian national based in the UAE, whose shipping companies own a fleet of nearly 30 vessels that Treasury says largely operate in Iran's…
March 2025
- Panama strikes 107 sanctioned ships from its registry
Panama's ship registry has removed 107 vessels and is de-registering 18 more after finding them on US, EU or UK sanctions lists or raising compliance concerns, Seatrade Maritime News reports.…
- Germany confiscates tanker Eventin and its cargo of Russian crude
German authorities have issued a confiscation order making the tanker Eventin and its roughly 100,000 tonnes of crude oil German property, Baird Maritime reports, citing Reuters and Der Spiegel.…
- US sanctions first Chinese teapot refinery over Iranian crude
The US Treasury sanctioned Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, a small independent refinery in China's Shandong province, and its chief executive, saying it bought about half a billion…
- G7 foreign ministers propose a Shadow Fleet Task Force with Nordic and Baltic states
G7 foreign ministers adopted a declaration on maritime security on 14 March that invites the Nordic-Baltic Eight to join a Shadow Fleet Task Force to improve monitoring and constrain shadow…
- US sanctions Iran's oil minister and shadow fleet ship operators
The US Treasury designated Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Mohsen Paknejad, saying he has allocated billions of dollars of oil to the armed forces, including the Revolutionary Guards. It also…
February 2025
- EU's 16th package adds 74 shadow fleet vessels and bans key Russian oil ports
The EU adopted its 16th sanctions package against Russia on 24 February, adding 74 vessels to its list of ships barred from EU ports and services and bringing the total to 153, the European…
- UK adds 40 shadow fleet tankers in its largest package since 2022
The UK announced 107 new sanctions on 24 February, the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, in what it called its largest package since the early days of the war. They include 40…
- US sanctions 13 more Iran-linked tankers and firms in four countries
The US sanctioned 13 tankers and 22 companies it links to Iran's oil trade, The Maritime Executive reports. Among the vessels are Amak, Asterix, Casinova, Lydia II, Peterpaul and Yateeka; the…
- Italy opens terrorism probe after blasts hole tanker that had called at Russian ports
Prosecutors in Genoa have opened an investigation into suspected shipwreck with terrorist intent after two explosions damaged the Greek-operated tanker Seajewel below the waterline off…
- Explosions disable tanker Koala in Russia's Ust-Luga port
Three explosions hit the engine room of the 160,000-dwt tanker Koala as it prepared to leave Russia's Baltic port of Ust-Luga on 9 February, The Maritime Executive reports. The engine room…
- US targets network shipping Iranian crude to China for Iran's armed forces
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned an international network it says shipped Iranian crude worth hundreds of millions of dollars to China on behalf of Iran's Armed…
- Denmark steps up inspections of tankers anchoring off Skagen
The Danish Maritime Authority is tightening checks on tankers that anchor at Skagen in the Danish straits, The Maritime Executive reports. It will inspect ships that cannot be considered to be…
January 2025
- NATO launches Baltic Sentry to guard undersea infrastructure
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced Operation Baltic Sentry at a summit of Baltic Sea allies in Helsinki on 15 January, USNI News reports. The mission adds frigates, maritime patrol…
- Laden tanker Eventin drifts off Rügen after losing power
The Panama-flagged tanker Eventin, carrying about 99,000 tonnes of oil, lost manoeuvrability north of the German island of Rügen on 10 January and drifted for several hours before the emergency…
- US sanctions 183 vessels and two Russian insurers in sweeping oil action
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 183 vessels in one of its largest actions against Russia's oil trade, Seatrade Maritime News reports. They include 69 ships owned by…
- China's Shandong Port Group bars US-sanctioned tankers from its terminals
China's state-owned Shandong Port Group has told traders it will block vessels on the US Treasury's sanctions list from its ports, The Maritime Executive reports, citing a policy notice. The…
- UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force activates Nordic Warden to track shadow fleet ships
The ten-nation Joint Expeditionary Force has activated Nordic Warden, a UK-led system that uses AI to assess AIS and other data and flag risks from ships entering sensitive sea areas, the UK…