Iranian VLCC in the spotlight switches destination to Turkey
The , the world’s most tracked ship over the past week, has changed its destination.
The Iranian VLCC, formerly known as Grace 1, was freed by Gibraltar authorities last weekend after six weeks’ detention for carrying oil bound for sanctions-hit Syria.
The fully laden tanker has been heading east all week through the Mediterranean with its initial destination flagged as Kalamata in Greece. However, Greek authorities said the ship had not made any plans to call at Kalamata. The United States has told all Mediterranean ports not to assist the ship, as the deems the vessel to be linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which is deemed as a terrorist organisation in Washington.
The tanker is now passing south of Sicily and overnight on Friday it switched its destination from Kalamata to Mersin in Turkey.
Again, we would like to remind journalists that our analysis remains unchanged: The vessel will not deliver its oil cargo to Turkey. We believe she will rendezvous with an empty Iranian tanker and deliver 700K-1 million barrels before heading for the Suez Canal. Thanks
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc.⚓️? (@TankerTrackers) August 24, 2019