Nylon Tarps Deployed In Desperate Bid To Dodge Sanctions

Tanker analysts are using satellite imagery to detect more and more desperate ships trying to disguise themselves from their sanctions-busting activities by covering their decks with nylon tarps. “Over the past year, we have seen a lot of oil tankers pull up in port in both Iran and Venezuela to load up on a couple of million barrels at a time. To better disguise themselves from satellites, the crew spend a day or two deploying large sheets of nylon tarp. The majority go for blue but the orange ones seem pretty nice,” Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told Splash today. Other ship spotters have also been tracking this phenomenon including non-profit United Against Nuclear Iran. Commenting on the various images of barely camouflaged tankers, Adis Ajdin, Splash’s chief correspondent, quipped: “It’s like disguising an elephant with an ant really.”