Seven Shadow Fleet Tankers Spoof AIS to Hide Novorossiysk Voyages

A group of seven sanctioned Russian tankers have been discovered to have intentionally altered their Automatic Identification System (AIS) data over the past 90 days, falsely claiming they were drifting off the Black Sea near the Bosphorus entrance. Instead, they were secretly sailing towards the Russian oil terminal of Novorossiysk, utilizing the coastline to evade Ukrainian drone attacks.

Satellite imagery played a crucial role in uncovering their deceitful maneuvers, known as spoofing, which involved manipulating their AIS data. The seven sanctioned vessels identified were a Sierra Leone-flagged Suezmax tanker, a Russia-flagged Aframax tanker, an Equatorial Guinea-flagged Suezmax, an Equatorial Guinea-flagged Aframax tanker, a Comoros-flagged Suezmax, and a Russia-flagged Aframax tanker.

All of these vessels are on the sanctioned list. The periods of GNSS manipulation typically lasted around 2-3 weeks, coinciding with the tankers' journeys to Novorossiysk, loading oil, and returning. This deceptive practice, alongside other tactics, allows Russian shadow fleet tankers to avoid Ukrainian drones. The escalation of Russian attacks on cargo vessels utilizing the Black Sea corridor for grain transportation has endangered freedom of navigation.

The International Maritime Organization reported that Russia carried out 25 serious attacks in this region between June 6 and September 23, resulting in 26 seafarer deaths. Additionally, seven cargo ships were damaged by Russian attacks off Bulgaria and Romania outside their territorial waters during October. While Ukraine has paused drone strikes on tankers since July, focusing on land targets such as refineries, the threat to shipping safety and security persists in the Black Sea.