Dark times for the dark fleet (and for seafarers generally)

Dark times for the dark fleet (and for seafarers generally)
Hieronymus Bosch 16 Mar 2026 https://www.bairdmaritime.com/security/incidents/piracy/column-dark-time...

Three weeks ago, we covered the increasing risks to seafarers working in the "dark fleet" of tankers carrying Russian, Iranian and other sanctioned oil. At the time, those risks to seafarers were mainly legal, as France and the United States sought to try the masters of falsely flagged vessels in the dark fleet.

Beginning with the seizure of the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper in December, at least five other dark fleet tankers had been seized by the US Government, including the Marinera (former Bella) in the North Atlantic in January and Veronica in the Caribbean. The master of Marinera, the Georgian national Avtandil Kalandadze, has been charged in the US and taken there from Scotland by the US Coast Guard, despite a court order requiring him to remain in the UK.

Today, the threats to all seafarers in the Arabian Gulf are far graver than the legal risks facing Mr Kalandadze, as we will examine. The war in Iran has elevated the danger facing seafarers in the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, as the Strait of Hormuz becomes the epicentre of the struggle between the US and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other. Hundreds of ships, thousands of seafarers, and the entire populations and economies of the Gulf Arab states are caught in the middle.

The Joint Maritime Intelligence Centre review of attacks on shipping described the situation adequately:

“The incidents involve a wide range of vessel types and flag states, with no consistent pattern of Western ownership linkage, suggesting that the current strike pattern reflects a campaign aimed at broad maritime disruption rather than selective vessel targeting. Recent incidents indicate that attacks are no longer confined to transit corridors and may occur across a broad operating area of the Arabian Gulf, including anchorages, Ship-to-Ship operations, and port approaches.”

Life as a seafarer has probably not been this risky in a generation. During the 1984 to 1988 Tanker War in the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, a total of 451 ships were attacked, primarily by Iraq, and over 300 seafarers were killed, injured, or reported missing as Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini attempted to cut off oil exports from each other, declaring various exclusion zones in which their forces could attack shipping.

Do we really want to go back to those dark days again?

Pressure on the dark fleet rises

But at the same time, the dark fleet is also being squeezed, legally and operationally.

Even as America has just issued a temporary waiver of sanctions for Russian oil already at sea until April 11, in an effort to curtail sharply higher petrol prices, Europe, belatedly, continues to pressure the dark fleet, as does India.

On February 6, the Indian Coast Guard seized three vessels off Mumbai in the Indian EEZ, ships allegedly associated with Iranian fuel shipments (“smuggling” in the words of the coast guard), being Asphalt Star, Chiltern and Stellar Ruby. All three had been sanctioned by the US in 2025.

The owner of the vessels, Dubai-based Indian citizen Jugwinder Singh Brar, himself subject to sanctions in the US, later threatened to file a defamation case against the Indian authorities for seizing his “innocent ships” as per Indian publication The Week.

Good luck with that.

Brest is best for trying dark fleet captain of “Benin flag” vessel

Two days after our piece was written, prosecutors in the French port Brest demanded a one‑year prison sentence and a €150,000 (US$170,000) fine against Chen Zhangjie, the 39-year old Chinese national who was master of the falsely Benin-flagged tanker Boracay, which was detained by the French authorities after being boarded by commandos in October.

Mr Chen was charged with failing to comply with French Navy orders and the court is expected to reach judgement at the end of this month. When challenged during police questioning about the fake Benin flag his vessel purported to be sailing under, he claimed during police questioning in custody that the flag had not been flown because it was raining, as per French media coverage.

Really?

Belgium and Sweden also seize dark fleet ships

Since then, on March 1, the Belgian Navy boarded and diverted the 2008-built tanker Ethera to Zeebrugge on suspicion of sailing under "false flag and false documents." As per AIS, the vessel remains there now.

Sweden has also joined the move to enforce registration and safety standards on the dark fleet. Last week, in a rather melodramatic helicopter interdiction, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded the 2007-built tanker Sea Owl I, which was on the European Union sanctions list, and was believed to be heading for the Russian port of Primorsk in ballast.

The Swedish Coast Guard issued the following comment on its website:

“The tanker Sea Owl I flies the Comorian flag. The coast guard suspects that it is not included in their ship register, that it is sailing under a false flag and that there is therefore no flag state that can guarantee safety on board… A preliminary investigation into suspected violations of the maritime act regarding lack of seaworthiness has been initiated.”