An inconvenient truth: Flags failing
Countries such as Togo, Tanzania, Djibouti and Cameroon are rarely shipowners’ first choice to flag tankers. But for the subterfuge tanker fleet that’s keeping sanctioned Venezuelan and Iranian crude flowing, these little-known registries in the world’s poorest countries allow them to hide in plain sight
A Lloyd’s List and Lloyd’s List Intelligence special investigation details how, why, and which registries are flagging the Iranian and Venezuelan-linked fleet of some 150 tankers that exploit regulatory loopholes to ship millions of barrels of crude through the world’s busiest waterways. This is part two of a series using data compiled from Lloyd’s List Intelligence to shine a light on one of the darkest and most opaque sub-sectors of energy commodities shipping