Rise of the dark fleet risks global shipping’s reputation

Rise of the dark fleet risks global shipping’s reputation
Sam Chambers December 8, 2022 https://splash247.com/rise-of-the-dark-fleet-risks-global-shippings-repu...

The growing size of the so-called dark tanker fleet poses a real threat to the reputation of global shipping, and puts the lives of seafarers at risk as well as the environment, leading shipping figures have warned.

With Russia joining other oil exporting giants Iran and Venezuela in creating a fleet to avoid sanctions this year, older tankers are being pressed into more dangerous operations without the best shipmanagement, class and insurance coverage on offer, while the soaring rate of ship-to-ship transfers taking place around the world also has shipping experts worried about the potential for accidents.

Jakob Larsen, head of maritime safety and security and international shipping organisation BIMCO, said his organisation was concerned about the rise of the dark fleet, denouncing any actions that breach safety regulations, including switching off the AIS of a ship as part of efforts to disguise involvement in sanctioned trade anywhere in the world.

“It is a concern that the actions of some might reflect badly on the vast majority of the world’s commercial fleet which is focused on transporting world trade in a safe and secure manner,” Larsen told Splash.

Splash columnist Dagfinn Lunde, who headed the global tanker organisation INTERTANKO from 1995 to 2000, commented: “I am happy I am not anymore heading INTERTANKO, because we will now enter a period of more pollution from tankers.”

Highly respected shipping writer Michael Grey told Splash: “The tanker sector has worked so hard, and for so long, to become the Rolls-Royce of the shipping industry, and now the dark fleet and the sort of people it will inevitably attract are risking so much of this reputation.”

Voicing concern for the men and women drafted in to move all this illicit cargo, Fabrizio Barcellona, coordinator of the seafarers’ section at the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), said: “Most often, seafarers are unaware of the origin of the cargo. This can be even more so the case for oil, which can be bought and sold repeatedly, within a single journey. “

Determining the extent of the dark fleet is made all the more difficult, Barcellona said, because the real owners or controllers of a vessel can so easily be obscured by what he described as the “broken” flags of convenience system.

A spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) told Splash today: “IMO’s priority is to ensure safety and security of shipping and prevention of pollution. All member states are urged to act to ensure that IMO regulations are fully implemented on all ships.”

In recent months, Russian-linked parties have been on a massive spending spree, buying a vast swathe of vintage tanker tonnage in order to be ready for new sanctions kicking in this week.

There have already been a few accidents with Russia-linked tonnage in the last couple of months.

Brokers Poten & Partners suggested last month the tanker dark fleet is approaching 300 ships. Shipping rates for Venezuelan or Iranian barrels can be two or three times the market rate for legitimate voyages, the broker observed.

“These premium earnings have created a strong incentive for opportunistic, less scrupulous owners to get involved in these trades,” Poten noted.

“If Russia will start utilizing more vessels from the Dark Fleet, the average age of their export tankers will rise dramatically and (unfortunately), so will the risk of incidents,” Poten warned.

Another safety issue is the growing clusters of tankers off major hubs and chokepoints around the world. One growing queue is around the Bosphorus Strait where Turkey’s decision to inspect the insurance coverage of all tankers passing through has hindered many tanker passages this week. Crowded anchorages around Istanbul have registered many ship prangs this year.

Analysts at shipping platform Signal Ocean said they had detected a “massive” drop in Russian crude oil flows this week in the wake of the G7-led Russian oil price cap and the European Union ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude.

“The downward trend after the enforcement ban seems to continue in the coming days,” a Signal spokesperson said.