EU pursuit of shadow fleet facilitators could result in flag hopping surge
THE latest package of sanctions measures unveiled by the European Union on Friday reveals a new approach to shutting down the networks of facilitating individuals and companies behind specific shadow fleet* operations, in addition to individual ships.
The legal text behind the 18th package of sanctions details how the ownership, management and financing of specific ships and trades are being targeted in a more systemic way.
It also shows how that approach now extends to flag registry services; a move which could result in an imminent flurry of flag re-registration amongst the vessels in the shadow fleet.
The designation of the UAE-based company Intershipping Services LLC, which operates both the Gabon and Comoros shipping registers, marks the first time a private company behind a ship registry has been sanctioned.
Intershipping Services was one of the first companies to capitalise on the demand for flag registry services for ships pushed out of mainstream flags on the basis of direct sanctions or indirect political pressure from western governments.
By positioning Gabon as a safe harbour for shadow fleet tonnage, Intershipping turned a small Central African nation previously unheard of in maritime circles into the world’s fastest-growing shipping registry last year.
Having taken in much of the sanctioned Sovcomflot fleet at the beginning of 2024, Gabon managed to clock up a 675% growth rate at its height last year, briefly becoming the second largest registry in Africa, after Liberia.
That attention, however, quickly came with its own problems. The majority of that tonnage exited as quickly as it joined, re-flagging to a growing list of real and fraudulent registries looking to cash in on the growth market.
Much of the Sovcomflot fleet that had swelled its book has since churned through at least three separate management companies and multiple flag changes since leaving Gabon.
At the point that the EU announced sanctions targeting Intershipping, Gabon had only 11 ships over 10,000 dwt left on its books.
Intershipping’s sister venture in Comoros, however, has quietly amassed a significant influx of the ships previously flagged in Gabon in addition to many more.
Of the 420 ships now flagged to Comoros, 118 of them are now subject to sanctions. The average age of a Comoros-flagged ship is 28 years.
While the EU sanctions designate Intershipping Services, and not the ships flagged by Gabon or Comoros, the sanctions will complicate any financial transaction with a sanctioned entity.
Given the available market for reflagging, both real and fraudulent, the likely result of these sanctions will see a rapid exodus of tonnage from Comoros over the following months.
The latest sanctions, however, are not just targeting the flag registration. While the latest listings have hit specific entities behind individual ships, the new approach demonstrates a willingness to go after the entire network behind operations, rather than just the ship itself.
In the high-profile case of shadow fleet tanker Blint (IMO: 9293002), which sailed through the Baltic in May with no valid flag registration, the EU has gone after several brass plate entities associated with the ship, in addition to the master of the tanker.
This included the targeting of the Hong-Kong-registered owner, Zhu Jian Shipmanagement; the Mauritius-registered manager, Sapang Shipping Inc; and the Mauritius-registered provider of corporate and trust services behind the tanker, Redbird Corporate Services.
The new approach also extends to the networks of traders and facilitators behind the shadow fleet trades.
Hossein Shamkhani, whose father is a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was sanctioned on Friday for his role behind the scenes of Russian oil trade and as “a central player” in the shadow fleet, the EU said. It also named his Dubai-based firms Admiral Group and Milavous Group Ltd.
“Hossein Shamkhani is involved in an economic sector providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation,” the EU said in a statement.
A Bloomberg News investigation last year showed how the Shamkhani network had become a major player in the export of Russian and Iranian oil, and established a hedge fund with offices in London, Dubai and Geneva to help manage the proceeds.
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