Growth of shadow fleet is on-going

The difficulty authorities in the West are having as they try to crack down on the growing shadow fleet, is highlighted in the latest data by Clarksons Research's World Fleet Monitor presenting the flag states that stand out for their extraordinary fleet growth.

San Marino, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Comoro Islands, Guinea Bissau and most notably Guinea are the flag states mentioned in the report. Most impressive is San Marino's growth, a European country nevertheless, whose fleet has grown by 663% over the past 12 months to 1.1m gt.

Guyana in South America has also been making headlines in recent months, its fleet growing by 576% in the past year to 3.3m gt. The fleet also stands out because of its average age, above 40 years old.

In Africa, flag states have mushroomed the most in step with the growth of the shadow fleet – Sierre Leone up by 105%, the Comoro Islands by 104%, Guinea Bissau leaping by 340%, and most extraordinary of all, Guinea's flag state growing by 99,094% over the past 12 months.

Another flag that has been in the news a great deal for its shadow fleet links, Barbados, saw its fleet grow by 177% in the past year, according to Clarksons data. Under pressure, the London-headquartered Barbados ship registry has said that by the end of January it will have asked a total of 46 ships to remove the country's flag because of UK sanctions.

The number of vessels hit by sanctions surpassed 1,000 late last year with data showing more than 800 of these ships do not have confirmed insurance. The average age of sanctioned ships – 21 years – is some eight years older than the global average, adding to growing concern that the sprawling so-called shadow fleet could lead to multiple costly environmental catastrophes.

The grey fleet is still growing by around 10 tankers a month, according to brokers BRS.

Insurer Allianz's 2024 shipping report said "Despite efforts to crack down on these vessels, the number of tankers is actually increasing, and we have seen a number of groundings and collision incidents." In recent weeks the UK has teamed up with several north European neighbors to challenge the insurance coverage of vessels heading from Russia through the Baltic and along the English Channel.