January 2021 Iran Tanker Tracking

This month we spotted a Maersk-managed tanker, DIAMONDBACK, attempting to take covert delivery of Iranian fuel oil in yet another ship-to-ship (STS) transfer.

After alerting the Danish shipping giant, Maersk swiftly acted to halt the STS and later confirmed that any fuel oil that had been transferred onto DIAMONDBACK was returned to the original loading vessel, SHANAYE QUEEN.  As reported by Michelle Wiese Bockmann at Lloyds List Intelligence, this was the second time in the space of 7 weeks in which Maersk had aborted an Iran-linked tanker STS “after non-government organization United Against Nuclear Iran notifie[d] the Danish company of a sanctions-busting tanker…”

(Source: Lloyds List Intelligence)

UANI research indicates Iranian crude and gas exports jumped by more than 50% to over 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) for January 2021, compared to less than 1 million bpd in December. This is almost five times Bloomberg’s 323,000 BPD estimate and just 182,365 BPD over TankerTrackers.com’s 21-day estimate of 1,386,133 BPD. The breakdown by country of destination is as follows:

View Iran Tanker Tracking

Despite an increase in exports for the month, we also see a corresponding rise in strong countermeasures – up to and including physical tanker seizures – taken by maritime authorities to combat these illicit oil shipments.

Most notably, on January 24, the Indonesian coast guard seized the Iranian-flagged Crude Oil tanker HORSE (IMO: 9362061) and the Panamanian-flagged Crude Oil tanker FREYA (IMO: 9180164) over suspected illegal oil transfers in Indonesian waters on January 24, 2021.

In the same south east Asian region, the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained a Sierra Leone-registered crude oil tanker, INGRID (IMO: 9201592),  for allegedly anchoring illegally around Pulau Buloh. 

This tanker was carrying oil cargo from Malaysia to Indonesia, but as noted by UANI in October last year, it had also previously been spotted carrying Iranian oil from Soroosh to China. UANI has written to the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration (SLMARAD) regarding INGRID, which confirmed an investigation into the vessel.

Furthermore, following UANI’s identification of the Crude Oil tanker SHAWNA (IMO: 9242120) in a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of Iranian crude oil in December 2020, the St. Kitts & Nevis International Ship Registry (SkanReg) confirmed the suspension of the vessel this month.

All maritime authorities should look to the examples set by Malaysia, Indonesia, and St. Kitts & Nevis.

UANI would also recommend action on on the crude oil tanker LAVAL (IMO: 9246279), which picked up crude oil from Iran’s Azarpad berth at Kharg Island on December 11, 2020. As we predicted, LAVAL engaged in an STS transfer in the South China Sea to avoid any “flag-related issues”  (see last month’s blog) that might transpire by docking at a port.  This indeed occurred on January 27, 2021, as we spotted LAVAL offloading its Iranian crude oil cargo to the Palau-flagged crude oil tanker PEARL I  (IMO: 9233234) in waters off the Singapore coast.

Satellite image suspected of showing LAVAL (left) and PEARL I (right) engaged in an STS transfer on 1/27/20201 (Source: Sentinel Hub).

Iran’s attempts to evade sanctions through STS activities were by no means limited to south east Asia. Iran also engaged in numerous STS transfers in its Persian Gulf home patch. On January 21, we identified the Togo-flagged oil/chemical tanker ELLA IX (IMO: 9246138) in an STS with the NITC tanker SANAN (IMO: 9171462). Prior to the STS, SANAN had picked up crude oil from Iran’s Soroosh terminal on January 11. Following its SANAN STS, ELLA IX engaged in an additional STS with the Liberian-flagged Crude Oil tanker VICTORY 1 (IMO: 9422988) a week later on January 28. VICTORY 1 is now destined for Qingdao, China with this Iranian oil on board.

Unfortunately, Beijing, unlike its southern neighbors, has shown no sign that it is prepared to stymie Iranian oil flows.

Satellite image suspected of showing ELLA IX (red) and VICORY I (green) engaged in an STS transfer on 1/28/20201 (Source: Sentinel Hub).