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Detained tankers fined and released

The tankers 'Freya' and 'Horse', detained by Indonesian authorities for nearly four months, were released and expelled from Indonesian water over the weekend May 28/29. The vessels had been detained for conducting an illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer in a prohibited area and failing to properly identify themselves to authorities. At the time of the detention on Jan 24, Indonesia’s Coast Guard had reported that the two vessels were operating dark. Their AIS signal was turned off, the vessels were not displaying national flags while at anchor, and the vessels failed to respond to radio calls from coast guard vessels. Chinese officials later acknowledged that their vessel was involved. Iranian authorities admitted the ships were in Indonesian waters but said it was a legal transfer between its tanker and the Chinese buyers. The Batam District Court found the vessels and their captains guilty on May 25 of not complying with international shipping regulations and the rules of the shipping channel where the vessels were discovered. Both captains were sentenced to a year in jail. The court suspended the jail time on the condition that the vessels left Indonesian waters and that they did not carry out the same violations in the next two years. In addition, the court also found them guilty of spilling oil into the sea. The 'Freya' was fined approximately $140,000 for the pollution offense.

Seized Vessel Shows Wider Ties to Illicit Iranian Oil Trade Networks

The 'Horse' which has been seized last month by Indonesian authorities over a suspected ship-to-ship transfer with the Iranian tanker 'Freya' appeared to be tied to a network previously sanctioned by the U.S. for illicit Iranian oil trade. The tanker is owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and is sanctioned by the U.S., while the 'Freya' is owned and operated by companies with ties to actors sanctioned by the U.S. for their roles in Iranian oil trade. When Indonesian authorities apprehended the vessels, both anchored in waters west of Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo, their flags were obscured and their AIS transponders were turned off. The 'Freya' was spilling fuel amid the transfer. The 'Horse' was part of a fleet sent by Tehran last year to deliver Iranian condensate to Venezuela. The 'Freya' has delivered two cargoes to China in the past few months. She is also connected to a broader network of actors sanctioned for Iran-related petroleum trade. The sole shareholder of 'Freya'’s operator, Moonlight Shipping Pte. Ltd., lists in Singapore corporate records a Dalian, China-based address associated with subsidiaries of Chinese shipping giant COSCO, including two that were sanctioned for Iran-related oil trade. The vessel is owned by the Marshall Islands-listed company, Freya Limited, which shares an address in Singapore with the vessel’s operator, Moonlight Shipping Pte. Ltd., maritime records show. Moonlight Shipping is owned by an individual who, in corporate records, listed a Dalian, China, based address identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as an address for COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman And Ship Management Co., Ltd. The company, a subsidiary of Chinese shipping giant COSCO, was sanctioned in 2019 alongside a number of other companies and their executives for transporting oil from Iran. The COSCO subsidiary was dissolved after it was sanctioned, though the address is still used by other subsidiaries of the shipping giant, corporate and maritime records show. Moonlight Shipping also operated the 'Themis' until late January 2021, relinquishing its position in the vessel shortly after the 'Freya' was seized, and also shut off its AIS transponder for three days in Dec 2020 west of Kalimantan, near the position where the 'Horse' and 'Freya' were seized. It was still operated by Moonlight Shipping at the time. The 'Themis'’ current operator, Shanghai Prosperity Ship Management, has a history of assuming management of vessels tied to networks implicated in Iran-related petroleum trade. It operates three vessels that had been operated by COSCO’s Dalian-based subsidiaries around the time they were sanctioned, maritime records show. The 'Freya'’s manager, Shanghai Future Ship Management Co. Ltd, does not appear on Chinese corporate records, but its listed address on corporate records matches that of Chengda Ship Management Co. Ltd. Corporate records show that Chengda Ship Management also shares identifier information with Shanghai Prosperity Ship Management and Shanghai Xinchi Petrochemical Co., Ltd., a company whose beneficial owners and an executive were sanctioned at the same time as COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman for engaging in oil transactions with Iran. The sanctioned individuals left their positions at the Xinchi Petrochemical around the time of the designation. Report with photo: https://brief.kharon.com/updates/seized-vessel-shows-wider-ties-to-illicit-iranian-oil-trade-networks/

Seized tankers escorted to Batam

The 'Horse' and 'Freya' which have been seized by Indonesian authorities for suspected illegal oil transfers were making their way to dock at Batam island in the Riau Islands Province for further investigations. The two supertankers, with crew members from Iran and China, were seized on Jan 24 in Indonesian waters near Kalimantan island. The 'Horse', owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and the 'Freya', managed by Shanghai Future Ship Management Co, had a total of 61 crew members onboard. They were expected to arrive in Batam at around 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) to 4 p.m. o Jan 26. Some of the crew remained aboard the tankers, but others were being detained on Coastguard ships for questioning while the investigation was under way. They were caught transferring oil from the 'Horse' to the 'Freya'. There was an oil spill around the receiving tanker. Currently, further investigations were being carried out in order to obtain a more complete picture of the violations committed. The two vessels concealed their identity by not showing their national flags, turning off AIS and failed to respond to a radio call. They were caught during a regular patrol. Report with photos: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-iran-tanker-idUSKBN29V0U0