US Firm Withdraws Safety Cover Of 2 Tankers For Shipping Iran’s Oil

… Advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) that tracks Iran-related tanker traffic through ship and satellite data, informed the American Bureau of Shipping about the breach of US sanctions in December. According to correspondence between the UANI and ABS seen by Reuters, several vessels were involved in the transfers of Iranian oil, including the Panama-flagged Karo owned by Hong Kong-based Delta Lines and the Belize-flagged Elsa owned by India-based Karo Shipping Services. The ABS, the only US firm among the top 12 ship classification societies that are mainly based in Europe and Asia, withdrew the cover for Elsa on December 17 and the Karo on January 13 because of their illicit transshipment operations with Iranian tankers. "Classification societies are faced with the challenge of keeping up with Iran's tactics in order to avoid facing sanctions themselves," said UANI Claire Jungman.