Sanctions
Sanctions against Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine continue to mount, while the US administration is reportedly weighing options on both Iranian and Venezuelan sanctions to address the energy gap created by restrictions on Russian oil and gas imports. Lloyd’s List examines the impact of this sanctions and the pain of them on the shipping industry and wider implications for the maritime community including finance, insurance, law and government.
US blacklists suezmax tanker and owner for Iran and Houthi links
The US has slapped sanctions on a suezmax tanker and its registered owner for shipping Iranian commodities in support of the IRGC-QF and a sanctioned Houthi financial facilitator. Ofac says the suezmax took Iranian oil from a sanctioned tanker that spoofed its location during the cargo transfer
Dark fleet insurance? Not reassuring
It’s 2024 and we still still have vessels ‘owned’ by anonymous brass plate companies, ‘flagged’ with fictitious ‘registries’, ‘IMO numbered’ with digits based on mum’s birthday, ‘classed’ by little-known ROs and ‘insured’ by shaky fixed premium providers. This isn’t progress
Chinese demand props up Russia oil exports amid Western pressure
Some recently sanctioned tankers are currently located in or near Chinese waters. Two of them called at ports in China after being blacklisted, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data
Ofac blacklists two more ships for helping Houthis
The US has blacklisted two ships and their owners it said were helping the Houthis and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Record volumes of Russian oil shipped outside the West’s reach after sanctions crackdown
Just 39% of tankers calling at Russian ports over February had marine insurance with the International Group of P&I clubs, a proxy for sanctions compliance with the G7 oil price cap — the lowest number since it was implemented 14 months ago
Hafnia in the dark as Danish authorities confirm sanctions investigation
‘We do not carry Russian oil’, insists product tanker giant Hafnia, as the Danish Business Authority presses ahead with an investigation into imports from a Russia-linked Indian refinery
US sanctions two tankers linked to Iranian armed forces and Houthis
The US has sanctioned two crude oil tankers and their owners, one for ties to the IRGC and the Houthis, and the other to the Iranian Ministry of Defence, as a refocus on Iran’s commodity export continues amid escalating tensions in the Middle East
US blacklists Russia’s Sovcomflot and 14 crude tankers in ‘next step’ of price cap enforcement
The US has blacklisted Russia’s state-owned giant Sovcomflot, joining the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Ofac has issued a general license allowing a 45-day period to offload the sanctioned tankers’ cargoes, and another one authorising transactions with all other Sovcomflot-owned vessels
Sanctioned tanker firm Fractal challenges UK blacklisting
Fractal Marine, previously one of the largest loaders of Russian crude and products after the imposition of a price cap, has vowed to fight UK sanctions which claim Fractal is part of Putin’s shadow fleet
Price cap ‘phase II’ was spurred by Russia selling ‘large amounts of oil’ above the cap
Marking the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US slapped sanctions on 500 entities and companies. The Treasury Department argued its recent crackdown, or ‘phase II’ of the price cap, is forcing Russia to again sell its oil at a ‘steep discount’, but admitted that Russia was able to sell ‘a large amounts of oil above the price cap’ through parts of last year thanks to the dark fleet*
Sanctioning Russia is one thing, making restrictions stick is another
The murder of Alexei Navalny and the second anniversary of the Ukraine invasion have seen measures targeting the Kremlin proliferate. The West should pay more attention to ensuring the ones we have already actually hit home
Ghost of US government ship turns up at Novorossiysk
A US-flagged tanker built in Bethlehem Steel in 1963 and scrapped in 2021 has pinged its AIS location in the Russian port of Novorossiysk recently, one of several bizarre AIS signals broadcasted by the dead vessel in the past four years
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