Subterfuge shipping investigation: The quiet class purge
Subterfuge shipowners have exploited loopholes to flag their vessels in some of the world’s poorest countries to evade US sanctions and ship Iranian and Venezuelan crude. But when it comes to classification societies, it hasn’t been so straightforward
Over the last 12 months, classification societies have quietly purged many of the tankers shipping Iranian and Venezuelan crude from their business. But the tankers continue to operate in a regulatory ‘no man’s land’, raising serious safety and pollution concerns. This is part three of a series from Lloyd’s List using data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence to shine a light on one of the darkest and most opaque sub-sectors of energy commodities shipping