Tanker experts at BRS argue in their latest weekly report that shipping should no longer refer to the non-mainstream flotilla of tankers as a shadow fleet. With so many nuances, BRS says that the dark fleet ought to be now referred to as the grey fleet in which there are several shades, reports Splash247.
Grey fleet in several shades
BRS pointed out that the lifting of Russian crude or refined products by oil tankers is not illegal, unlike the transport of most Iranian or Venezuelan crude or the shipping of oil into North Korea. However, in order for the transportation of Russian oil to be compliant it has to be compliant with the recently introduced oil price caps and crucially it has to be exported to a country outside of the European Union, the UK and the US which have all banned the import of Russian oil.
Looking at the latest ship tracking data, BRS hailed the price caps for crude and refined products as a “victory” for the EU and G7.
Ship tracking data analysed by BRS also shows that only 30% of Russian crude fixtures are by grey tankers, while grey tankers appear to only be accounting for one in every five liftings of Russian refined products.
BRS now counts 731 tankers of 3,000 dwt and upwards in the grey fleet, an increase of 72 units from its last count at the end of January. For ships above 34,000 dwt, its tally stands at 602 tankers, sharply up from Splash’s own assessment of 420 vessels as of February 20.
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Source: Splash247
