Rogue tankers in Singapore: What are shadow fleets and who uses them?

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Singapore has reported a increasing fig of “rogue” oregon “shadow fleet” tankers operating disconnected its shores successful and astir 1 of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence information cited by planetary maritime authorities, astatine slightest 27 specified ships transited the Singapore Strait successful aboriginal December, with different 130 clustered adjacent astir Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago.

Why are truthful galore ‘rogue’ tankers appearing adjacent Singapore?

Conflict successful Ukraine and the Middle East has sparked a surge successful Western sanctions connected lipid exports from countries specified arsenic Russia and Iran. The European Commission and the United States Trump administration person some precocious renewed oregon extended sanctions against Venezuelan oil, arsenic well.

As a result, a parallel, unofficial maritime web has emerged to support sanctioned lipid moving.

The Singapore Strait is simply a captious artery for planetary maritime trade, carrying astir one-third of the world’s traded goods astatine immoderate constituent on their journeys. For tankers astatine sea, it is astir unavoidable – the strait is simply a earthy gateway betwixt the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, besides a engaged commercialized artery.

The Maritime and Port Authority monitors vas movements wrong Singaporean waters. But planetary instrumentality limits what enactment it tin instrumentality erstwhile ships determination into the precocious seas – successful effect, planetary waters – allowing shadiness fleets to thrive successful regulatory grey zones.

In caller weeks, fishy shipping enactment has been noted conscionable beyond Singapore’s territorial waters – astir 22.2 kilometres from its seashore – successful planetary waters, conscionable extracurricular of the metropolis state’s instrumentality enforcement reach.

What are ‘shadow fleets’ and however bash they debar sanctions?

As a effect of grounds sanctions by Western governments successful caller years implicit Russia’s warfare successful Ukraine, Iran’s atomic programme and, astir recently, United States President Donald Trump’s run against Venezuela, the fig of falsely flagged ships globally has much than doubled this twelvemonth to much than 450, astir of them tankers, according to the International Maritime Organization database.

All vessels astatine oversea are required to alert a emblem showing the ineligible jurisdiction governing their operations successful planetary waters. The assemblage which grants vessel nationalities is the UN Convention connected the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

A shadiness ship, oregon “ghost” ship, is typically an ageing vas with obscure ownership. These vessels often alteration flags – for instance, erstwhile the US seized the tanker, Skipper, disconnected the seashore of Venezuela earlier this month, the authorities of Guyana, Venezuela’s neighbour, said it was “falsely flying the Guyana flag”, and clarified that it was not registered successful the country.

Operators of shadiness ships besides falsify registration details, broadcast mendacious geo-location codes, oregon adjacent power disconnected tracking systems altogether to evade detection and skirt UNCLOS laws.

These vessels typically transportation sanctioned lipid and different restricted goods specified arsenic subject equipment. They often behaviour risky ship-to-ship transfers of cargo nether the screen of nighttime to debar detection. This tin make superior information and biology risks.

Additionally, astir of the tankers are owned by ammunition companies successful jurisdictions specified arsenic Dubai, wherever accelerated buying and selling by anonymous oregon recently formed firms tin instrumentality place, making it adjacent harder to hint their origins.

Jennifer Parker, a specializer successful maritime instrumentality astatine Australia’s University of New South Wales, said the expanding fig of shadiness fleets presents a “real challenge”.

Parker told Al Jazeera that “finding retired who owns them and who insures them has been incredibly hard due to the fact that of the [murky] insubstantial way astir them”.

She added that “often they would bash what is called bunkering, which is the process of transferring substance astatine oversea betwixt ships. So that makes it hard to way wherever that vessel has really travel from and wherever that lipid has travel from.”

She added: “Sometimes, what they bash is really premix oil, truthful you volition person a morganatic vessel that volition bash a ship-to-ship transportation astatine oversea with a shadiness fleet and they volition premix the lipid truthful it becomes hard to truly hint wherever that lipid has travel from … to debar sanctions.”

What benignant of problems bash these tankers cause?

When ageing, uninsured vessels are progressive successful accidents, it tin pb to biology disasters similar lipid spills.

According to Bunkerspot, a specializer maritime publication, a shadiness tanker spill, which tin origin tremendous harm to water, wildlife and section coastlines, tin outgo up to $1.6bn successful effect and cleanup alone.

Last December, Russian authorities scrambled to incorporate an lipid spill successful the Kerch Strait caused by 2 50-year-old tankers which had been damaged during a dense play storm. The standard of the biology harm and the associated cleanup costs stay unclear.

In summation to vas collisions, they tin origin biology harm done chemic leaks and amerciable discarded dumping.

Who uses shadiness fleets the most?

Russia is the superior beneficiary of shade fleet trading. Moscow has mostly maintained its lipid exports contempt Western sanctions, ensuring dependable gross for its warfare in Ukraine. Though not to the aforesaid extent, Iran and Venezuela besides merchantability fossil fuels utilizing shade fleets.

China and India, presently the largest buyers of Russian crude, payment from steep discounts, often purchasing lipid good beneath the Western-imposed $60 per tube price cap, which was imposed successful December 2022 pursuing Russia’s penetration of Ukraine.

Tracking by S&P Global and Ukrainian quality shows that Russia relied heavy connected its shadiness tanker fleet successful 2025. India has been the main destination, importing astir 5.4 cardinal tonnes (or 55 percent of Russian crude lipid income via shadiness tankers) betwixt January and September.

China has taken a smaller but inactive important stock of astir 15 percent. Overall, astir Russian seaborne crude present moves extracurricular Group of Seven (G7)-compliant shipping, underscoring the shadiness fleet’s cardinal relation successful this trade.

What actions person governments taken against shadiness fleets?

To debar enforcement of sanctions, galore shadiness tankers person moved retired of large shipping lanes. In part, this is down to European authorities present requiring carnal inspections during ship-to-ship transfers, making it riskier for these vessels to run connected accepted routes.

For instance, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland and Estonia precocious began carrying retired security checks connected tankers transiting the Gulf of Finland and the waters betwixt Sweden and Denmark. This is aimed astatine ensuring compliance with 2022 sanctions connected Russian oil.

Meanwhile, successful July 2025, the United Kingdom imposed measures – specified arsenic restrictions connected entree to UK ports, security and fiscal services – connected 135 shadiness fleet vessels and 2 linked firms, aiming to trim Russia’s shipping capableness and chopped its vigor earnings.

In the US, President Donald Trump has warned that comparable measures volition travel if Russia refuses to hold to a ceasefire successful Ukraine, raising the imaginable of person transatlantic coordination with the UK and Europe against shadiness fleets.

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