THE growing shadow fleet of tankers transporting sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil is filling up with the cheapest fuel available, hindering efforts to use cleaner fuel, Reuters reports.
Lloyd's List Intelligence estimates the shadow fleet had grown to around 630 tankers from 530 a year ago, to make up 14.5 per cent of the overall global tanker fleet. Some industry estimates put the number even higher, at over 800 tankers.
The numbers mark further rapid expansion following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Western curbs on Russian energy exports, which has led to ships being hit with sanctions.
Hundreds of tankers that are moving sanctioned oil are posing a challenge because they are hard to track with opaque ownership and use of non-Western insurance.
'You're seeing greater numbers of ships that have found ways to circumvent sanctions by operating outside Western jurisdiction,' said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, principal analyst with maritime data group Lloyd's List Intelligence.
'The dark fleet has gone on steroids. And the deceptive shipping practices that they're engaging in are getting more and more complex and sophisticated.'
Those include dangerous ship-to-ship transfers of oil in international waters to avoid port state control scrutiny, falsifying ship identification numbers, tankers sending false information about their position, and the use of flag registries with lower standards of technical oversight and expertise, Mr Bockmann said.
Under the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO), ships have to switch to low sulphur fuel from the higher sulphur fuel diesel the industry has used for decades.
Enforcement is up to IMO member countries, which can levy fines or detain ships for non-compliance. The IMO rules say ships can only burn high sulphur fuel if they have scrubbers.
Shadow fleet tankers, however, can run on higher sulphur diesel - that is estimated to cost 20 per cent less than the greener fuel - without checks unless they are stopped at ports enforcing the regulations, people familiar with the matter said.
'A lot of shadow vessels have no scrubbers but they buy high sulphur fuel oil when they are in Russia,' one industry source said. 'So, they are breaching the IMO's sulphur limit.'
Russia and its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus agreed in December they would continue using high sulphur fuel until the end of 2026.
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Lloyd's List Intelligence estimates the shadow fleet had grown to around 630 tankers from 530 a year ago, to make up 14.5 per cent of the overall global tanker fleet. Some industry estimates put the number even higher, at over 800 tankers.
The numbers mark further rapid expansion following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Western curbs on Russian energy exports, which has led to ships being hit with sanctions.
Hundreds of tankers that are moving sanctioned oil are posing a challenge because they are hard to track with opaque ownership and use of non-Western insurance.
'You're seeing greater numbers of ships that have found ways to circumvent sanctions by operating outside Western jurisdiction,' said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, principal analyst with maritime data group Lloyd's List Intelligence.
'The dark fleet has gone on steroids. And the deceptive shipping practices that they're engaging in are getting more and more complex and sophisticated.'
Those include dangerous ship-to-ship transfers of oil in international waters to avoid port state control scrutiny, falsifying ship identification numbers, tankers sending false information about their position, and the use of flag registries with lower standards of technical oversight and expertise, Mr Bockmann said.
Under the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO), ships have to switch to low sulphur fuel from the higher sulphur fuel diesel the industry has used for decades.
Enforcement is up to IMO member countries, which can levy fines or detain ships for non-compliance. The IMO rules say ships can only burn high sulphur fuel if they have scrubbers.
Shadow fleet tankers, however, can run on higher sulphur diesel - that is estimated to cost 20 per cent less than the greener fuel - without checks unless they are stopped at ports enforcing the regulations, people familiar with the matter said.
'A lot of shadow vessels have no scrubbers but they buy high sulphur fuel oil when they are in Russia,' one industry source said. 'So, they are breaching the IMO's sulphur limit.'
Russia and its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus agreed in December they would continue using high sulphur fuel until the end of 2026.
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