Topic
North Korea, Venezuela, Syria and other sanctioned seaborne trade
All 53 Shadow Fleet Monitor summaries tagged Other states, newest first. Each links to the original reporting.
Ships most often in this coverage
October 2026
- US Coast Guard intercepts Cuba-bound vessel Grace carrying fuel in ballast tanks
The US Coast Guard says it intercepted the vessel Grace in the Caribbean Sea as it carried fuel towards Cuba, gCaptain reports. After the boarding, the ship was escorted to Progreso in Mexico,…
August 2026
- US sells two seized Russian-flagged tankers for scrap in India
The US government has sold two Russian-flagged tankers it seized in January to Dubai-based ship recycler Global Marketing Systems for demolition in India, MarineLink reports, citing Reuters and…
March 2026
- US asks court for immediate sale of seized tanker Skipper and its cargo
The US government has asked the federal court in Washington DC for an immediate sale of the seized tanker Skipper and its oil, The Maritime Executive reports. The government says it has already…
February 2026
- US forces board tanker Veronica III in Indian Ocean after it left Venezuela
US military forces have boarded the tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean by helicopter, Al Jazeera reports, after the Pentagon said the vessel had tried to evade President Trump's blockade on…
January 2026
- US hands seized tanker Sophia back to Venezuela
The United States is returning the Panama-flagged supertanker Sophia to Venezuelan authorities, gCaptain reports, weeks after the Coast Guard and military seized it on 7 January as what…
- Captain of seized tanker Marinera moved to US custody despite Scottish court order
Avtandil Kalandadze, the Georgian captain of the Russian-flagged tanker Marinera, formerly Bella 1, and its first officer were transferred to the US Coast Guard cutter Munro after the ship was…
- US sanctions 21 Houthi-linked targets moving oil products and weapons
The US Treasury designated 21 individuals and entities and identified one vessel it says transferred oil products, procured weapons and dual-use equipment and provided financial services for…
- US seizes Veronica, sixth tanker taken in its Venezuelan oil campaign
The US Coast Guard boarded the sanctioned tanker Veronica in the Caribbean, the sixth such seizure in the effort to control Venezuela's oil trade and the fourth since Nicolás Maduro was removed,…
- UK reportedly identifies legal basis to board unflagged shadow fleet tankers
British ministers believe the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 could allow military force to be used against oil tankers sailing without a valid national flag, the Kyiv Independent…
- US seizes falsely flagged tanker Olina, its fifth in the Venezuela campaign
The US Coast Guard, supported by Marines and sailors launched from the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, seized the tanker Olina in international waters in the eastern Caribbean before dawn on 9…
- US seizes Venezuela-trading tanker days after it switched to the Russian flag
US European Command said it seized the tanker it called Bella 1 in the North Atlantic for breaching sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Weeks earlier the US had tried to board the ship while it sailed…
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…
- 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.…
- 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…
- 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…
September 2025
- 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…
July 2025
- 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…
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…
May 2025
- 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…
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…
March 2025
- 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…
December 2024
- Iranian crude shipments to Syria halt after Assad's fall, tanker Lotus turns back
Iran's crude exports to Syria have stopped after rebels took power in Damascus, S&P Global Commodity Insights reports. The laden tanker Lotus turned back in the Gulf of Suez on 7 December as…
November 2024
- North Korea may have received over a million barrels of Russian oil, Open Source Centre finds
North Korean tankers may have carried more than a million barrels of oil products from Russia since March if fully laden, against a UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year, according to an analysis by…
- US sanctions Syrian conglomerate's network and tankers over Iranian oil sales
The US Treasury sanctioned 26 companies, individuals and vessels linked to the Al-Qatirji Company, a Syrian conglomerate it says earns hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran's IRGC-Qods Force…
- Signal of scrapped tanker Pablo reappears in transfer with Venezuelan state tanker
The transponder signal of the Pablo, a tanker sent for scrap after an explosion off Malaysia in May 2023, came back to life in the Gulf of Guinea in October, Bloomberg reports, citing S&P Global…
- US arrests Turkish national accused of smuggling Venezuelan oil
US authorities have arrested Taskin Torlak, a 37-year-old Turkish national, in Miami as he tried to leave the country, gCaptain reports. He is charged with conspiring to violate US sanctions on…
- Venezuelan oil exports reach four-year high in October under US licences
Venezuela's oil exports climbed 21% from September to a four-year high in October, averaging 947,387 barrels per day of crude and fuel, Hydrocarbon Processing reports, citing PDVSA documents and…
- Mexico steps up fuel shipments to Cuba as Venezuelan and Russian supplies dwindle
Mexico has become Cuba's key fuel supplier as deliveries from Venezuela and Russia fall away, the Associated Press reports. About 412,000 barrels of Pemex crude reached the port of Cienfuegos,…
September 2024
- US sanctions tankers moving Iranian oil and gas to Syria and East Asia
The US Treasury designated more than a dozen entities and vessels on 25 September over shipments of Iranian crude and liquefied petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia that it says benefit the…
July 2024
- Dark fleet tankers push Cook Islands into world's top 30 flags
The Cook Islands has entered the top 30 ship registries, overtaking Gabon, on Clarksons Research data, Splash247 reports. The registry now holds 259 ships of 6.9 million gross tons, an expansion…
- Tankers Hafnia Nile and Ceres I catch fire after collision off Singapore Strait
The Singapore-flagged product tanker Hafnia Nile and the VLCC Ceres I collided at about 06:00 local time on 19 July, some 30 nautical miles north-east of Pedra Branca at the entrance to the…
- South Korea sanctions two ships and Hong Kong firm over North Korean coal transfer
South Korea's foreign and finance ministries imposed sanctions on two vessels and a Hong Kong shipping company for breaching UN Security Council resolutions on trade with North Korea, The…
June 2024
- South Korea sanctions four Russian vessels over oil transfers to North Korea
South Korea has imposed sanctions on four Russian vessels that it says supplied refined oil to North Korea through ship-to-ship transfers, Anadolu Agency reports. Eight North Koreans working for…
- Venezuela uses spoofing tankers to keep oil flowing to Cuba, Reuters says
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has turned to dark fleet tankers to ship oil to Cuba, often through ship-to-ship transfers by vessels that spoof their location, Reuters reports. The…
- G7 leaders pledge action against Russia's shadow fleet in Apulia communiqué
Leaders of the Group of Seven, meeting in Apulia, Italy, pledged to take steps including sanctions and "innovative enforcement activities" against Russia's use of a shadow fleet to circumvent…
- US sanctions ship firms and tankers in Houthi financier Sa'id al-Jamal's network
The US Treasury has sanctioned shipping companies, ship masters and vessels it says serve the network of Houthi financier Sa'id al-Jamal, designated for supporting Iran's IRGC-Qods Force.…
- Ship manager V.Group says it lost 30 vessels to the dark fleet
V.Group, one of the largest ship managers, says it stopped managing about 30 tankers in the past year after they were sold to owners who failed its compliance checks, Reuters reports. Chief…
- Venezuelan oil exports jump 30% in May as US wind-down period ends
Venezuela's oil exports rose 30% in May from April as buyers loaded cargoes before the end of a US wind-down period on 31 May, Reuters reports, citing shipping data. Fifty vessels left…
May 2024
- South Korea sanctions two Russian ships and seven North Koreans over arms and fuel trade
South Korea has sanctioned two Russian vessels, the Maia-1 and the Maria, which it says shuttled between Russia and North Korea carrying military supplies, Korea JoongAng Daily reports. Seven…
- UK sanctions firms over Russia–North Korea 'arms-for-oil' trade
Britain has imposed sanctions on companies it accuses of facilitating an "arms-for-oil" trade between Russia and North Korea, Reuters reports. Those targeted include Paekyangsan Shipping, which…
- White House says Russian fuel shipments to North Korea appear to breach UN cap
The White House has said Russia is shipping refined petroleum to North Korea from Port Vostochny at levels that appear to violate the UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year, Reuters reports. National…
April 2024
- US lets Venezuela oil licence lapse, leaving tanker backlog at ports
The US Treasury has not renewed General License 44 for Venezuela's oil sector and on 17 April gave companies 45 days to wind down pending transactions, Reuters reports via gCaptain. PDVSA's…
- Chatham House: Russian veto will embolden North Korea as direct oil supplies begin
Russia's veto ending UN monitoring of sanctions on North Korea will further embolden Pyongyang, Edward Howell argues in a Chatham House commentary published on 8 April. He writes that North…
- South Korea sanctions Russian cargo ships Lady R and Angara over North Korea arms trade
South Korea has sanctioned two Russian ships, the Lady R and the Angara, which it says carried military supplies between Russia and North Korea, The Korea Times reports. Seoul also listed two…
March 2024
- South Korea detains stateless cargo ship De Yi over suspected North Korea sanctions breach
South Korea's coast guard redirected the cargo ship De Yi to the Busan anchorage on 30 March after it initially refused orders to stop, The Maritime Executive reports. The Foreign Ministry said…
- Russian veto ends UN panel monitoring North Korea sanctions
Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on 28 March to renew the panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea, ending its work, the Associated Press reports. The vote was 13 to…
- North Korean tankers collect oil products at Russia's Vostochny port, FT and RUSI find
At least five North Korean-flagged oil products tankers travelled to Vostochny port in Russia's Far East in March to collect oil products, according to research by the Financial Times and RUSI…
- US and South Korea launch task force to block North Korea's illicit oil supplies
The United States and South Korea have set up a task force to stop North Korea obtaining oil illicitly, Reuters reports. The Enhanced Disruption Task Force met for the first time in Washington…
February 2024
- EU 13th package targets firms shipping North Korean arms to Russia
The EU adopted its 13th package of sanctions against Russia on 23 February, two years into the full-scale war, taking its listings past 2,000, the European Commission said. The new listings…
January 2024
- US says Venezuela oil sanctions relief will lapse in April without electoral progress
The US will not renew General License 44, which eases sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas sector, when it expires in April unless President Nicolás Maduro lets all presidential candidates take…
- South Korea sanctions 11 vessels over oil and coal smuggling with North Korea
South Korea has imposed unilateral sanctions on 11 vessels it accuses of ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean ships, smuggling refined oil and coal, and delivering used ships to Pyongyang,…