Cosco Dalian’s oil tankers switch off tracers after US sanctions imposed, data shows
- Fourteen of the Chinese company’s 43 vessels turned off ship-tracking transponders from September 30 to October 7
- Analyst calls it ‘a tried and tested tactic that the Iranians have used before, creating a fleet of ghost ships that cannot be tracked’
From September 30 to October 7, a total of 14 Cosco Dalian ships, six of which carry some oil, stopped sending location data from their automatic identification system (AIS), ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon showed. The US imposed the sanctions on September 25.
The International Maritime Organisation requires AIS transceivers be fitted to commercial and passenger vessels for safety and transparency purposes. The devices can be turned off manually by a ship’s crew for legitimate reasons such as avoiding detection in piracy or high-risk zones.
However, the transponders are often shut off to conceal a ship’s location when illicit activities occur.
“It is becoming a cat-and-mouse game, with the US ratcheting up the sanctions while the Iranians (and their Chinese or other buyers) find novel ways to circumvent these” including frequent ownership changes, complex corporate structures and shutting off the AIS transponders, said Bruno Vickers, senior director for Asia at political risk group GPW in Singapore.