By Jonathan Saul
LONDON (Reuters) – The growing shadow fleet of tankers carrying sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil is filling up with the cheapest fuel available, hampering industry efforts to use cleaner fuel to cut shipping emissions. as shown by shipping data and sources.
The global shipping sector is under increasing pressure to use cleaner fuels to reduce emissions of carbon as well as sulfur dioxide and other pollutants and achieve broader green goals.
Hundreds of tankers carrying sanctioned oil pose a challenge because they are difficult to track due to their opaque ownership and use of non-Western insurance and other maritime services, and they have little incentive to follow cleaner shipping standards.
“You’re seeing more and more ships that have found ways to avoid sanctions by operating outside Western jurisdiction,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, chief analyst at maritime data group Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
“The dark fleet has gone on steroids. And the deceptive shipping practices they engage in are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated.”
These include dangerous ship-to-ship transfers of oil in international waters to evade port state control, falsifying ship identification numbers, tankers transmitting false position information, and the use of flag registers with lower technical standards supervision and expertise, Bockmann said.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence estimates that the shadow fleet has grown from 530 a year ago to around 630 tankers, representing 14.5% of the total global tanker fleet.
Some industry estimates put the number even higher: more than 800 tankers.
The figures mark further rapid expansion after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Western restrictions on Russian energy exports, which led to ships being hit with sanctions.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the shadow tanker fleet before the war consisted of approximately 280 to 300 ships.
Such growth has raised concerns about environmental impacts, as well as safety and the effectiveness of sanctions, including a Western ban on the shipment and trade of Russian oil priced above the $60 per barrel limit.
Under the so-called IMO 2020 convention, adopted by the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), ships must switch to low-sulfur fuel from the higher-sulfur diesel that the industry has used for decades.
NO ‘SCRUBBERS’
Enforcement of these regulations, designed to reduce emissions, is a task for IMO member states, which can impose fines or detain ships for non-compliance. In April, the IMO called on its members to step up inspections on ships deemed to be shadow ships and increase fines for any irregularities.
IMO rules say ships can only burn fuel with a high sulfur content if they have exhaust gas cleaning systems, known as scrubbers.
However, shadow fleet tankers can run without checks on higher sulfur diesel – which costs an estimated 20% less than the greener fuel – unless they are stopped at ports that enforce the regulations, people familiar with the matter say.
“Many shadow ships do not have scrubbers, but buy high sulfur fuel oil when they are in Russia,” said an industry source. “So they are violating the IMO sulfur limit.”
It is difficult to estimate the level of non-compliance with IMO 2020 within the shadow fleet, but there has been an increase in the number of ships being detained for sulphur-related violations.
Port authorities in Europe and Asia detained at least 10 ships in connection with the convention in the first five months of 2024, up from six in the same period last year and five for all of 2022, according to a Reuters analysis of port data. enforcement authorities. Of the ten tankers arrested, nine had previously visited Russia.
RUSSIAN, IRANIAN FUEL SUPPLY
Russia and its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus, agreed in December to continue using high-sulfur fuel until the end of 2026.
This means ships could still receive high-sulfur fuel at ports serving these countries, people involved in the fuel shipping industry say.
Iran, another producer of high sulfur fuel, has been supplying ships in the Middle East Gulf, the sources said.
In one such operation, the Casinova tanker has loaded such fuel at the Iranian port of Bandar Imam Khomeini in recent months, said Claire Jungman, chief of staff of the US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, which tracks Iranian tanker traffic through satellite data. The Casinova later transferred some of the fuel to smaller ships waiting around the Basra anchorage in southern Iraq, Jungman said.
The ship’s Liberian-based owner, Le Monde Marine Services, could not be reached for comment.
Casinova’s marine insurer West P&I said it was in the process of canceling the ship’s coverage after Reuters requested comment.
Ship certifier ABS, which provided safety cover for the Casinova, was investigating its activities, a spokesman for the US-headquartered company said.
“ABS treats every allegation and the subject of sanctions very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to complying with the US and UN sanctions regimes and all other applicable laws.”
