UK sanctions 30 ships and two Russian insurers in biggest dark fleet crackdown yet
Half of the ships targeted transported more than $4.3bn worth of oil and oil products in the past year says UK foreign office
Among those sanctioned is one tanker that refused to provide its marine insurance details when sailing through the English Channel. The UK's maritime and coastguard agency has checked details of 43 dark fleet tankers while transiting through the chokepoint since October 17
THE UK government has sanctioned two Russian insurance companies and 30 tankers for breaching sanctions on Russia’s oil and shipping industry.
Alfastrakhovanie and VSK, both providers of marine insurance to vessels shipping Russian energy commodities, were designated. The UK government already sanctioned Ingosstrakh, another provider, last June.
This takes the total of ships listed by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in 2024 to 73, the government said.
Eleven of the tankers are owned by Russian government-controlled Sovcomflot with the remaining vessels part of the so-called elderly and substandard dark fleet* of sanctions-circumventing ships operating outside Western jurisdiction.
All but two are aframax and suezmax tankers, the most heavily relied upon size for Russian shipments of crude and oil products to buyers in Asia and Türkiye.
Under the G7 price cap implemented between December 2022 and February 2023, Western marine service providers are unable to ship Russian oil to third countries unless sold under a price cap.
The cap is $100 per barrel for refined products, $60 per barrel for crude and $45 per barrel for fuel oil.
The UK government crackdown builds on earlier moves this year to directly target ships after changing laws in mid-2024 in addition to challenging tankers deployed in Russian trades during their English Channel transit to and from Russian Baltic ports.
One sanctioned ship Ksena (IMO: 9232888) failed to provide insurance details to the UK coast guard, while the two Russian insurers were identified during checks and sanctioned for “enabling the shadow fleet”.
“These sanctions highlight the impact of the Department for Transport’s insurance reporting mechanism, with more than 43 vessels with dubious insurance being challenged to supply their details as they pass through UK waters,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
“On November 12, the vessel Ksena ignored UK challenges — it has today been sanctioned. This mechanism has also exposed dubious Russian insurers Alfastrakhovanie and VSK, sanctioned today for enabling the shadow fleet.”
On October 17, the UK government announced it would target dark fleet tankers transiting the English Channel to check whether they had suspicious or dubious insurance.
At least five in the list are linked to the original fleet of Gatik Ship Management, the world’s largest dark fleet of tankers, numbering some 53 ships until mid-2023, when it was reorganised and splintered into dozens of new ISM managers and registered owner multiple times.
These ships were linked to Rosneft shipments.
One sanctioned tanker is part of the 19-ship Hennesea Holdings cluster sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets control last January.
At least three are flying false flags according to Equasis, and another’s flag is unknown.
None are insured by any of the 12 clubs that are part of the International Group of P&I clubs that cover 86% of the world’s fleet underscoring the complementary move by the UK to target more Russian marine service providers.
Both Alfastrakhovanie and VSK have been seen on dark fleet documents providing both hull and machinery and P&I insurance.
The UK has sanctioned 73 oil tankers in the shadow fleet, compared to 39 sanctioned by the US and 19 by the EU, the statement said.
* Lloyd’s List defines a tanker as part of the dark fleet if it is aged 15 years or over, anonymously owned and/or has a corporate structure designed to obfuscate beneficial ownership discovery, solely deployed in sanctioned oil trades, and engaged in one or more of the deceptive shipping practices outlined in US State Department guidance issued in May 2020. The figures exclude tankers tracked to government-controlled shipping entities such as Russia’s Sovcomflot, or Iran’s National Iranian Tanker Co, and those already sanctioned.
Download our explainer on the different risk profiles of the dark fleet here
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