A mid-sized Gambia-flagged oil tanker with a cargo of almost three-quarters of a million barrels was reportedly anchored in East Asia with no clear destination, JollofNews gathered from the BBC recently.
According to the BBC reporter, who said he spoke to one of the sailors aboard the stranded vessel, the 100,000 tons of oil would be “ordinarily” worth around US$47 million, but it was “in effect” untradable because it was Russian-sanctioned oil.
“And as we’ve seen in the past couple of months, the US is getting much more proactive about tracking down shadow fleet ships like this. They can’t just dump the oil, they can’t sell it either,” said the BBC’s senior business producer with international focus on transport and energy David Waddell.
The sailor, who spoke to David, said:”The crude oil is from Russia. We still don’t know the destination.” He added that there was “total quiet and silence” on the part of the ship operator.
“He is aboard a shadow fleet vessel; it’s an oil tanker currently at anchor in east Asia. I know the name of the ship, it’s exact location. Out of respect for sailor’s welfare, I’ve agreed to spare the details, including his own identity. But he is a senior officer on a mid-sized oil tanker flying a false Gambian flag. Essentially unregistered,” David told the BBC.
The sailor, who spoke to him, said they have been experiencing issues with salaries and shortages with meat, grains, fish and “simple things”, adding that the situation was affecting their health and operational efficiency.
“The crew was hungry, the crew was angry and we tried to survive day by day,”said the sailor.
According to the BBC’s David Waddell, more than “6200 seafarers were stranded with the ships typically without pay, disconnected from their ship operator, poorly-provisioned and without the means to get home”.
“Why is it getting worse; because huge geopolitical instability in the region in recent years not at least widespread conflict, the COVID pandemic, triggering supply-chain disruption, wide variation in freight cost, meaning some operators struggle to stay afloat, for want of better expression,” he explained, adding: “And it’s been compounded in recent years by the prevalence of shadow fleet operations. The International Transport Workers’ Federation said they have been hearing increasing reports from sailors, who believed that their vessel is transporting sanctioned goods”.
