On the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the British government has announced its most extensive set of sanctions to date. The measures affect around 300 entities and individuals, including the state-owned oil giant Transneft. The clear objective is to strangle the energy revenues that fund Moscow's war effort, also targeting the so-called ghost fleet of tankers.
The Technology of the "Ghost Fleet" and the Sanctions War 🚢
The sanctions specifically target networks like 2Rivers and 48 tankers that operate under a complex web of shell companies and frequently change flags and identification. This ghost fleet uses techniques such as ship-to-ship crude oil transfers at sea and AIS transponder manipulation to evade restrictions. The British package now seeks to attack this opaque logistics, which relies on a network of intermediaries and false documentation to maintain the flow of petrodollars.
Operation "Ghost Tanker Hunt": Who Turns Off the AIS? 🕵️
The race to hide a ship the size of several football fields in the open ocean is the new extreme sport of geopolitics. While satellites watch them, captains play hide-and-seek with their GPS signal, as if turning off the AIS makes them invisible. One imagines the scene: a tanker with a hastily painted new name, trying to look innocent while carrying a cargo worth millions. Sanctions turn into a global game of cat and mouse, where the mouse is a 300-meter-long vessel.