Bloomberg said that 53 tankers are linked to the Russian oil trade, through what is known as the shadow fleet. They were left idle and moored in various locations around the world, including the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, Russia, the Pacific Ocean, China, South Korea and the Suez Canal.
The agency pointed out that these ships, which once transported Moscow’s oil, have been paralyzed due to a series of sanctions imposed by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union since October 2023.
Since the sanctions were imposed, most of these tankers have been unable to operate normally, according to Bloomberg. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control was the first to impose the restrictions, targeting individual vessels for violating the Group of Seven’s $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian oil exports.
Later, 32 additional ships were sanctioned this year, although one was later removed from the list, according to the agency.
The UK also joined in June 2024, imposing sanctions on four vessels to curb the activities of a “shadow fleet” of tankers “circumventing sanctions by operating outside Western jurisdictions.” The EU followed suit, imposing sanctions on 13 more oil vessels later that month.
The sanctions have severely disrupted tanker operations, with only three of the 53 sanctioned vessels able to load cargo since they were designated, according to Bloomberg ship-tracking data.
attempts to evade sanctions
Despite the sanctions, some tankers have tried to continue operations through covert means, Bloomberg reported.
For example, the SCF Primorye, Bratsk and Belgorod have all loaded their cargo since the sanctions were imposed. The SCF Primorye transferred its cargo to another ship near Singapore, while the Bratsk and Belgorod disappeared from tracking systems near India.
These actions highlight the lengths to which Russia is willing to go to circumvent sanctions, according to Bloomberg. Tactics also include passing through less scrutinized ports.
