US SANCTIONS on shadow fleet* tankers trading in Venezuela and their owners or managers will have a huge impact on the market, and are likely to expand, according to experts.

The US first seized a vessel off Venezuela on December 10, after weeks of US military buildup in the Caribbean. 

On December 11, the US announced sanctions on six very large crude carriers and their affiliated entities.

The reason for the US first seizing a ship and then announcing sanctions is to “extend the impact of a single case across the market, encouraging reassessment of risk among other Venezuela-linked tankers”, according to Vortexa director of maritime risk and intelligence Claire Jungman.

The seized tanker, Skipper (IMO: 9304667), was carrying about 1.8m tonnes of Merey crude that it loaded in from Venezuela’s Jose Terminal.

The White House later said that it would be seizing both the vessel and the cargo. At the time of writing, Skipper was sailing north off the southwest coast of Cuba, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence Automatic Identification System data.

The last sanctions on Venezuela-trading tankers came on the last day of the first Donald Trump administration.

“In many ways I am surprised it took this long for US President Trump,” said DJ Wolff, co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group, recalling the ramped up pressure on Venezuelan oil during Trump’s first administration.

The reason the sanctions have been introduced now is that the US is responding to “renewed political backsliding by the Maduro government including failures to meet electoral and human-rights commitments that were conditions for earlier sanctions relief,” according to Andrew Astuno, an attorney at the New York-based law firm Seiden Law, which specialises on sanctions, and a former adviser at the US Department of the Treasury.

On Tuesday, Trump ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuelan waters.

Wolff told Lloyd’s List that Trump can implement the secondary tariffs to the countries that are importing Venezuelan oil, as he did on India for importing Russian oil. “Although tariffs only affect the governments, while sanctions are directly impacting who are in the activity.” 

And he thinks that we should expect more sanctions.

Jungman said that in past cases, a single seizure or designation “has been followed by additional monitoring and selective follow-up actions as authorities assess market response and compliance behaviour”.

According to Vortexa data, in October and November this year, 40 tankers loaded crude in Venezuela, 29 of which were in the shadow fleet. Fourteen of these vessels are sanctioned.

The 11 vessels that are not in the shadow fleet were transferring cargo to the US, presumably under a licence from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Crude oil loadings during that period stood at about 900,000 barrels per day, most of which was exported to China.

Astuno said that as the US sanctions would very likely continue to target tankers, owners and intermediaries that move or facilitate Venezuelan oil, “there are increased compliance obligations and risk for the global shipping industry, while pushing some operators into a higher-risk shadow fleet”.

He added that this would create “significant secondary-sanctions exposure for insurers, classification societies, maintenance providers and other service firms that support such vessels.”

The sanctions are not only targeting six VLCCs, but also one of their technical operators and five beneficial owners. None of these six companies has another ship they are operating in their fleet.

Wolff said that no matter how many vessels these specific companies have, the way the sanctions hit the companies means that now there is a lot to consider for any company that is engaged with Venezuelan oil trade.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel tracking, at least three shadow fleet tankers that were heading towards Venezuela when the sanctions were declared by the US have made U-turns and changed their destination.

In addition, sanctioned product tanker Boltaris (IMO: 9251456) appeared to have done a U-turn on December 10 and rerouted from the coast of Venezuela towards the east, but satellite imagery shows the vessel was not at the co-ordinates it broadcast via AIS. A vessel matching Boltaris’ characteristics can be seen on satellite imagery from December 9 berthed at Jose Terminal in Venezuela. 

Jungman told Lloyd’s List that the seizure and the sanctions have an immediate impact on the shipping industry, as now there is higher risk and uncertainty around Venezuela-linked voyages.

“Even a single enforcement action can prompt owners and charterers to pause, reroute or avoid certain trades altogether, which we are already seeing in vessel behaviour. That can lead to longer voyage times, uneven utilisation and reduced willingness to engage in higher-risk fixtures.”

Jungman thinks that over time, this kind of uncertainty can tighten vessel availability for specific routes and push activity further into a smaller pool of risk-tolerant tonnage.