SeaLead loses one-third of fleet after terminating charters of 16 sanctioned boxships

SINGAPORE-based SeaLead has been rapidly expanding its chartered-in fleet in recent years, growing from a small feeder company in the Red Sea to a midsize liner operator with globe-spanning services. Sea Lead is the 13th-largest liner operator in the world, according to Alphaliner.

Its ranking is about to fall.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 22 containerships on Wednesday for links to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, a top political adviser to Iran’s supreme leader and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

Of those 22 boxships, 16 were on charter to SeaLead. Ofac provided a general licence allowing for delivery and offloading of any cargo loaded before Thursday, through September 30.

The company said in a press release on Thursday: “SeaLead has been made aware that multiple vessels, chartered by the company for commercial purposes, have been added to the Ofac sanctions list.

“SeaLead confirms the termination of all charterparties and contracts related to the sanctioned vessels and entities. The company maintains full compliance with applicable sanctions laws and regulatory requirements.”

According to Alphaliner data, the 16 ships chartered to SeaLead on the Ofac list account for 30% of SeaLead’s fleet in terms of vessel numbers and 36% in terms of teu capacity. SeaLead’s Asia-Europe service look like it will be particularly hard-hit.

Vessels on Ofac’s sanction list and Alphaliner’s SeaLead fleet list serving Asia-Europe are: Timon (IMO: 9415844), Simba (IMO: 9719862), Hakuna Matata (IMO: 9354167), Bigli (IMO: 9307047), Yogi (IMO: 9307009), Rantanplan (IMO: 9307023), Pumba (IMO: 9302566), Moana (IMO: 9292151), Pinocchio (IMO: 9400112) and Ace (IMO: 9228538).

Those in the Asia-Red Sea trade are Lidia (IMO: 9330501), Ale (IMO: 9303754), Zagor (IMO: 9313242) and Bertie (IMO: 9241487). Also sanctioned were Star (IMO: 9436484), in the Asia-North America trade, and Tex (IMO: 9246322), in the Middle East-India trade.

SeaLead confirmed to Lloyd’s List on Friday that it has terminated charterparties for all 16 of these ships, and that cargo loading for these vessels has ceased, affirming that it “maintains full compliance with applicable sanctions laws and regulatory requirements”.

Ofac also sanctioned Singapore-based Draco Buren Shipping for its links to Shamkhani.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data, Draco Buren is the technical manager of 22 containerships, 18 of which were sanctioned by Ofac on Thursday.

Of the four Draco Buren-managed boxships that were not sanctioned by Ofac, three are listed on Alphaliner’s fleet list for SeaLead: Ciccio (IMO: 9192442) in the Asia-Red Sea trade, Scooby 1 (IMO: 9146314) in the Europe-Middle East-Asia trade, and Kermit (IMO: 9134232) in the intra-Asia trade. Kermit, is ex-Ever Dainty, recently purchased from Evergreen.

SeaLead told Lloyd’s List that management relations with Draco Buren have been severed. “SeaLead has confirmed with shipowners that Draco Buren is not the technical manager of any SeaLead operated vessels, effective immediately,” it stated.

Jaideep Saigal was listed as Draco Buren’s commercial director in a 2022 settlement agreement between the company and the California Air Resources Board over a low-sulphur fuel violation.

SeaLead was founded in 2017. An article in Container News published in 2021 stated that SeaLead was “founded by Dubai-based Indian national Jaideep Saigal”. The company was purchased in February 2024 by a group of investors comprised of Eurasia Capital, HCP Investments, Access Capital Funds and Saral Incorp VCC SubFund.

SeaLead did not comment when asked whether Saigal was involved in the company’s founding, stating that its ownership “has evolved since its inception”.