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The Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum: Is the dark fleet getting darker?

Listen to the latest edition of the Lloyd’s List’s weekly podcast — your free weekly briefing on the stories shaping shipping

We bring you more highlights from the Lloyd’s List outlook forum held in London earlier this month, featuring foremost sanctions lawyers and Lloyd’s List Intelligence analysts

THE volume and frequency of sanctions being targeted against shipping has never been higher, or more visible, Sanctions are now a daily part of the Lloyd’s List news agenda, so it’s sometimes difficult to see how fast things are changing.

But the risk and compliance landscape has noticeably changed this year — we’re seeing more targeted sanctions, and in response we’re seeing an ever-evolving shift of circumvention tactics, from an ever growing *dark fleet that is looking more and more dangerous by the day.

And the politics are also shifting.

Much of Donald Trump’s sanctions strategy remains unclear, and on past experience, unpredictable.

It’s a fair bet that Tehran can expect to be under more pressure post January 20 next year. But what happens with Russia is the big question.

And what does that mean for the rest of shipping, which has been left to navigate its way around not just an increasingly hefty compliance burden?

There is essentially a tiered trading system, where one part of the industry is jumping through hoops to apply regulation and decarbonise and pay for carbon burned, while another section sails without basic adherence to safety regulations, no insurance, no legitimate flag. These are outside of the rules-based order and they are earning a premium for it.

So when Lloyd’s List hosted its annual Outlook Forum in London earlier this month, this was the context to our discussions around sanctions risk and compliance.

If you haven’t already listened to the previous edition of the podcast, where we brought you highlights of the first panel from our outlook event, then now would be a good time to hit pause and go back to listen to that one first.

For the rest of you though, this is the second and final part of our edited highlight series that you’ll hear today.

Joining Richard on the panel were:

  • Michelle Linderman, partner, Van Bael & Bellis

  • Daniel Martin, partner, HFW

  • Michelle Wiese Bockmann, principal analyst, Lloyd’s List

  • Bridget Diakun, maritime risk analyst, Lloyd’s List

Want more insight? Download our Lloyd’s List Outlook Forum: 2025 and beyond Summary and Key Takeaways document, including the results from our Outlook survey and key quotes and charts from the event here.

A sample of the full report is available to view here.

* 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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