Russian Shadow Fleet Emerges From Data on Empty Oil Tankers
- Number of empty vessels with no destination jumps to record
- Dark fleet expected to keep Russian diesel flowing after ban
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First, a small armada of oil tankers emerged to help Russia beat sanctions. Now hundreds of fuel vessels are taking steps to hide where they’re going from prying eyes.
A record 311 mid-range ships were recently seen sailing without cargo or destination, according to Kpler data compiled by Bloomberg, compared to an average of 14 such ships at any given time prior to this year. Meanwhile just 33 empty vessels are signaling Russia, the lowest level on record and down from 103 at the beginning of the year.