LANDLOCKED Malawi has emerged as the latest haven for sanctioned tankers in search of a flag state as dark fleet* operators continue to innovate amid tightening prohibitions by Western nations.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence Automatic Identification System data shows four UK- and EU-sanctioned tankers reflagged with the African nation earlier this month as they all began transmitting Maritime Mobile Service Identity numbers affiliated with Malawi.

A vessel’s flag is indicated by the first three digits of its MMSI, a unique nine-digit number assigned to a vessel by a flag registry for identifying and communicating via radio and AIS.

The MMSI shows the flag the vessel claims to be flying.

Small registries grew at record pace last year, driven by an influx of tonnage of an ever-growing shadow fleet that swelled considerably after sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, and as sanctions on both Iran and Russia have tightened especially since October of last year.

It is not immediately clear whether the four tankers — product tankers Ascendant (IMO: 9248801), Phoenix (IMO: 9333424), and crude oil tankers Sierra (IMO: 9522324) and Reinel (previously Afkada (IMO: 9311531)) — were indeed flagged with Malawi or are fraudulently using the MMSI prefix associated with the registry.

A search of the Malawi flag on the International Maritime Organization’s Global Integrated Shipping Information System database shows five vessels flying the Malawi flag.

There are two fishing vessels, one passenger ship and one inland waterways tanker, all under 1,000 gt listed. The aframax Sierra is also listed.

Sierra and Phoenix are both managed by Moonlight Shipmanagement, which was sanctioned on May 22, 2025 by the EU for managing shadow fleet tankers including those previously managed by Russian tanker major Sovcomflot.

Both tankers were previously directly owned by Sovcomflot but now have obscure ownership structures.

This is not the first time that former Sovcomflot vessels have been among the first movers to smaller registries, with five of these tankers reflagging to Oman in March.

Flag hopping, where ships move between different registries, sometimes within short periods of time and often to registries that are either fraudulent or have little oversight, has become an increasingly popular deceptive shipping practice among the sanctioned fleet.

A Lloyd’s List investigation published in May revealed that post-sanctions flag hopping has hit an unprecedented pace, with the average time between a ship being sanctioned and reflagging nearly halving in 2025.

Phoenix, for example, has re-flagged three times since it was sanctioned by the UK in July 2024.

Ascendant, has reflagged twice since it was first designated in December 2024. It left Panama in January for the Djibouti registry. The vessel flew the Djibouti flag for until June 9, which is when it began transmitting the MMSI related to Malawi.

The change to Ascendant’s MMSI number was made mid-voyage while the tanker was anchored off China.

It has since proceeded to the port of Dongying, which the vessel is signalling as its destination via its AIS data.

The use of flags with little oversight helps enable illicit and sanctioned trades.

Prior to reflagging with Malawi, Reinel, under the flag of Gabon, sailed to the coast of North Korea where it went offline for nearly a full day.

Lloyd’s List has contacted the Malawi Ministry of Transport and Public Works by email. The Malawi Maritime Administration, whose website says provides “Training, Certifications, Survey, and Ship Registration, to clients all around the World”, was also contacted for comment.

The website did not have a Malawi government domain and Lloyd’s List could not find mentions of the Malawi Maritime Administration under the government’s website. However, the IMO’s GISIS platform lists the Malawi Maritime Administration as point of contact for Malawi.