EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). An investigation by The Guardian (below) reveals that at least 230 aging tankers have been sold to Russia’s “shadow fleet” by European and U.S. shipowners since 2022, earning them more than £4.8 billion. These deals have helped Russia evade Western sanctions on its oil exports, which in turn finance its war in Ukraine. The Greeks were the busiest of all sellers, having disposed of 127 vessels, followed by those from the UK, Germany, and Norway. Most of those tankers – very often flying the flags of states not taking part in the sanctions, such as India, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Seychelles – are used to transport Russian oil and may serve espionage purposes. An investigation led by the Dutch outlet Follow the Money, and several newsrooms found that roughly 70% of Russian oil exports rely on this shadow fleet. EU and G7 sanctions and new regulations did nothing to stop 32 European-owned tankers from being sold to the shadow fleet after those measures went into effect. In turn, Western governments have targeted sanctions against individual tankers, which countries with big shipping industries such as Greece, Cyprus, and Malta resisted
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source – the guardian
Shipowners have made £4.8bn selling tankers to Russian ‘shadow fleet’
Vessels used to evade sanctions on oil exports and help fund war against Ukraine, investigation reveals
European and US shipowners have sold at least 230 ageing tankers into the “shadow fleet” used by Russia to evade western sanctions on its oil exports and help fund its war against Ukraine, an international investigation reveals.
The shipowners have made more than $6bn (£4.8bn) since Russia’s 2022 invasion by selling the vessels to buyers in countries such as India, Hong Kong, Vietnam or Seychelles that are not participating in the economic sanctions against Moscow, the investigation found.
It said Greek owners had sold the largest number of tankers, offloading 127 vessels, with UK companies selling 22 and German and Norwegian owners 11 and eight. Most would otherwise have been sold for scrap at a fraction of the price, it said.
In total, owners from 21 of the 35 countries that have placed sanctions on the oil trade with Russia had sold tankers into the shadow fleet, the investigation, led by a Dutch investigative outlet, Follow the Money (FTM), and involving newsrooms in nine countries, revealed.
Western governments say ships from the shadow fleet are being used to carry Russian oil, conduct espionage activities for Moscow and chart – and sometimes destroy – vital undersea infrastructure such as cables.
The team, working with the independent Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), whose researchers believe the 600-strong shadow fleet is shipping about 70% of all Russian oil exports, analysed hundreds of maritime freight and ship registration records.
The report cited the case of two 15-year-old Greek-owned tankers that were sold to a Hanoi-based company, renamed and reflagged from Malta to Panama, that later collected 120m litres of Russian oil from the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga, near the Estonian border.
After the G7 and EU introduced an oil price cap in late 2022 barring companies registered on their territories from facilitating sales of Russian oil above a certain price, prices for vessels that could be registered in non-western jurisdictions soared.
“A lot of European shipowners had old tonnage that they thought wasn’t really worth much,” an analyst at Lloyd’s List, the specialist shipping newspaper, told the consortium. “All of a sudden it doubled in value – so they scrambled to sell it.”
The Belgian marine transport group CMB.Tech sold five tankers for $135m that ended up in the fleet in 2022 and early 2023. A spokesperson told the Belgian newspaper De Tijd, part of the consortium, that it was not responsible for the vessels after the sale.
In late 2023 the EU introduced new rules requiring companies selling vessels to third countries to check they were not used to bust sanctions – but 32 European-owned tankers have been sold into the shadow fleet since then.
More recently, the EU and US have gone further, partly because many tankers in the shadow fleet do not have western insurance, never put into European ports so cannot be checked, and are so decrepit they could cause an environmental catastrophe.
Individual tankers are now barred from EU ports and services if found to be transporting Russian oil or involved in “dangerous shipping practices”. About 70 have been put under sanctions by the bloc, with reports 74 more will follow.
There are, however, no reports of plans to introduce specific measures outlawing the sale of vessels into the shadow fleet, partly because of resistance from member states with important shipping sectors, such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta.
Unlike when Onasis operated, you can no longer insure any ship more than fifteen years old.
Obviously the Russians have their own insurance companies and they do need Lloyds of London.
And you no longer have enforceable laws to punish the ruling Anglo Protestant and Jewish Zionist mafia leaders and representative of the countries America, Britain, Ukraine, and Israel from Obstructing Interstate and International Trade and commerce , Crimes against humanity Economic Sanctions policies which obstruct interstate trade and commerce between countries of the world .. to Violate Rico Ac t …Extortion, Coercion , Blackmail and Bribery which are designed to starve the civilian population of the enemies of the Anglo Protestant and Jewish Zionist countries of America and Israel and deprive the government of the Free world the ability to maintain the welfare of their citizens . as they have done in Syria. Venezuela, libya, Iran, Russia , China , Iraq, etc etc .. and now even on Cyprus and Greece and their allies , which deprives these families of needed revenue to feed their children, medical supplioes and energy to run their factories , with the objective of having the civilian population surrender their elected leaders and sovereignty to a bunch of Neo Nazi Jewish and Christian Zionist of America and Israel ! Hey Joshua .. as we found out yesterday …we no longer have enforceable laws and law enforcement agencies to legally arrest Netanyahue and Trump for Crimes against humanity , War Crimes , genocide. and ethnic and religious cleansing of Orthodox and Catholic Christian faithful and churches , and Muslim faithful and Mosques from Gaza , Palestine, lebanon, Ukraine, Syria etc etc and most of the Middle East!
Hey Joshua … Yes, unlike when Onasis operated .. and since 1948, when the criminal enterprise of Jewish Zionist State of Israel and America were established in the Middle East…no longer can any ship be insured in the world ..including communication ships of America ..like the unarmed U.S.S liberty blown up ,like the Palestinian population by the Satanic jewish Zionist regimes of Israel and America.killing 34 U.S naval officers, and which none other than Admiral John McCain Sr. , father of the War Criminal Zionist John McCain of the Middle East and Vietnam.. did what Trump did yesterday, not arrest the leaders of the Jewish State of Israel for murder of the 34 sailers! And like then and now … they bombed the ship and killed American to frame Egypt as the perpetrators , to drag US into waging war on Egypt! Today …it is Iran and Middle East !!
Joshua… While Trump and Netanyahue .. promote their “Final Solution” for the Orthodox Christians and muslims of Palestine and the Ukraine, no different that Adolf Hiter and Nazi Germany… let hope that the “Final Solution” for Protestant and Jewish Zionism of America and Israel ..will be supported by God!