INTERTANKO has consistently supported legally robust enforcement against the shadow fleet and substandard shipping, alongside a clear delineation between those vessels and the quality, compliant tanker fleet. For enforcement to be effective, it must be accompanied by sanctions rules that are clear, aligned and consistently applied across jurisdictions. Recent developments make that need for consistency even more important. 

We have already seen the US take a different position from the EU and UK on the transportation of Russian oil and refined products with a difference in price cap for Russian crude and a number of general licences permitting the delivery of Russian oil already loaded at sea, including cargoes aboard vessels blocked under US sanctions. 

Now the US has authorised the sale and delivery of Russian diesel, including to the US, under the new general licence and is further considering easing sanctions on shadow-fleet vessels.

Bringing sanctioned shadow-fleet vessels back into legitimate trades raises an important question of principle. If additional tanker capacity is required, policy should encourage cargoes towards the quality, compliant fleet and not to vessels and operators that have operated outside it.

There is a real safety concern here. The shadow fleet is characterised by limited transparency, opaque insurance arrangements and operation outside well-established industry standards, regulatory oversight and commercial inspection regimes.  Lifting sanctions on cargoes, and on the carriage of them by these vessels, does not make these vessels any safer and adds risks to safety at sea, the marine environment and coastal states.  

Any move that would allow these vessels back into trade without scrutiny of their condition, insurance and ownership would also send the wrong signal to an industry in which compliant owners such as INTERTANKO members have invested heavily in safety, compliance and transparency.

Our position therefore remains consistent: sanctions should be clear, aligned and enforceable, and where cargoes can lawfully be transported, the regulatory framework should ensure their carriage by properly maintained, adequately insured and transparently owned vessels operating within the established international regulatory framework.