US EditionPublished • loading... • Updated
Pacific island office enabling sanctions-busting 'shadow fleets'
Twenty Cook Islands-flagged tankers are identified by US sanctions as smuggling Russian and Iranian crude between 2024 and 2025, highlighting registry oversight challenges.
- From a beachside registry office in Cook Islands, Maritime Cook Islands is used to register ships identified as part of the shadow fleet, said Moiseienko.
- Flags of convenience allow foreign-owned ships to sail under lenient oversight, helping vessels mask suspicious voyages while Maritime Cook Islands, named 'fastest growing' last year, boosts revenue for the revenue-starved Pacific island registries.
- Investigators point to incidents such as the United States sanctions data identifying 20 Cook Islands-flagged tankers suspected of smuggling Russian and Iranian fuel, with a British sanctions database blacklisting a further one.
- New Zealand called the undermining of sanctions 'alarming and infuriating,' while Maritime Cook Islands denies harbouring sanctioned vessels and says accused ships are deleted from its registry.
- There is no international mechanism to enforce flag-state obligations, and Anton Moiseienko warns shadow fleet activity expanded after sanctions, with registries sometimes deleting suspicious vessels before they are publicly named.
Insights by Ground AI
35 Articles
35 Articles
Revenues from shipping rights increased by more than 400 per cent, according to island documents.
·Montreal, Canada
Read Full Article
US sanctions data identify 20 tankers registered in the Cook Islands as suspected of smuggling Russian and Iranian fuel between 2024 and 2025. Fourteen other tankers flying the Cook Islands flag are listed on the Cook Islands border.
·Paris, France
Read Full Article
Coverage Details
Total News Sources35
Leaning Left7Leaning Right8Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution35% Center, 35% Right
Bias Distribution
- 35% of the sources are Center, 35% of the sources lean Right
35% Right
L 30%
C 35%
R 35%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
