Russian tankers have turned off their tracking systems at least 33 times in the past week, according to location data provided to Bloomberg by Windward, a shipping risk consulting firm. That’s double the normal weekly rate, the company said. This tactic known as “dark activity” has been identified by the US Treasury Department as one of the many “misleading practices used to avoid sanctions” in the shipping industry. Data from Windward also show that ship-to-ship encounters are taking place which could be enough to carry cargo to ships without sanctions, although the frequency of these encounters is still normal. Windward also said last week that 22 unique vessels had entered Russian waters for the first time in the weeks since the invasion of Ukraine. The news follows reports that nine superyachts belonging to Russian oligarchs and tycoons – several of which were sanctioned – similarly deactivated their monitoring signals last week. All vessels of 300 gross metric tonnes or more sailing on international voyages must install tracking technology, commonly referred to as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), according to the International Maritime Organization’s website. Certain categories of ships traveling on international voyages are required by the international convention to transmit their AIS position signal at all times. In a sanctioning consultation last May, the US Treasury Department warned that “vessels engaged in illegal activities may also intentionally disable their AIS transponders or manipulate the data being transmitted to cover their traffic”. Several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have banned both Russian oil and Russian ships from ports following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions against the Russian oligarchs have led to a highly controlled movement of ships as the superyachts and their owners try to escape the seizure. Disabling location data — on merchant or passenger ships — could make it harder for companies to avoid dealing with penalized entities or individuals. “Everyone on yachting is very scared. Sanctions on direct or indirect transactions with Russians are just astronomical,” Sam Tucker of market intelligence firm VesselsValue told Insider.
