Panama Registry to Automatically Expel Sanction Busters

"The growth of the shadow fleet and the use of sanctions by the U.S., the EU, and now the UK against vessels involved in sanction evasion or other illegal activities has increased pressure on the leading registries to enhance enforcement and deny registry to vessels. The Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) has highlighted several previous efforts to scrub its registry and now is announcing new steps to enhance its enforcement. […] Critics such as the NGO UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) however highlight that vessels registered in Panama continue to be involved in the illicit Iranian oil trade while recent sanctions have also included vessels registered in Panama used to transport Russian oil. UANI for example says a quarter of all the vessels it has tracked in the Iranian oil trade are registered in Panama. "