⊗

The shipping industry’s aversion to publicity, despite its essential role, has been well documented in the pages of this publication for years. It’s hardly surprising then that a front page story in a recent edition of the Financial Times, which brought together two of the dominant stories of the current news cycle - climate change and the Ukraine war should prompt a sudden surge of interest in shipping, and prompt plenty of indignation. The prospect of non-ice class tankers being increasingly permitted on the Northern Sea Route to ease the path and cost of sanctioned Russian crude exports to Asian markets raised the hackles of both sanctions advocates and environmentalists. This was, however, not the only Ukraine war-related shipping story to garner plenty of coverage recently. “Greed has come ahead of moral compass,” proclaimed leading London broker Richard Fulford-Smith at a recent conference where he roundly condemned those who are profiteering by selling their older tankers into the ‘dark fleet’ hauling Russian crude. This followed from the comments made six months earlier by another leading London broker who hoped those involved in helping to build the dark fleet have “a lot of sleepless nights”. So far the sanctions enforcers, notably the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), have not targeted the sellers of these tankers or the service companies, notably shipbrokers, involved in these transactions. The fundamental problem is shipping’s freewheeling, unregulated commercial structure Shipowners consistently despair of the onerous regulation they face in their daily operations, but shipping’s commercial activities rarely come in for the vocal criticism that we are now seeing from some of their most high-profile participants. Now might well indeed be the time for a bit of adjustment of shipping’s moral compass. The fundamental problem is shipping’s freewheeling, unregulated commercial structure. Certainly, major oil companies, mining companies and commodity traders have detailed vetting procedures and to stay on their list as a chosen business partner, shipowners need to have rigorous KYC systems. It is still, however, incredibly easy to hide behind the opaque nature of shelf companies and freshly minted management outfits in less well-scrutinised jurisdictions to get away with sanctions busting, and sadly the number of people who have so far been called to account on this issue is pathetically small. This is certainly not a case of sour grapes on the part of the shipbrokers who are calling out the profiteers because their own internal systems and checks preclude them from participating in the dark fleet bonanza. An industry that has worked for centuries on the principal of ‘my word is my bond’ has a well-adjusted moral compass and it is one of the reasons that commercial shipping has functioned so effectively for so long. There will always be bad apples, but the consolidation of shipbroking and many other service sectors means that the big players can wield more influence in both calling out and reining in unscrupulous practices. ‘Dead In The Water’, the brilliant exposé by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellels of the almost unbelievable story of the Brillante Virtuoso scandal, was compulsive summer reading for many in the shipping industry and brought to light a dark side to many others who had previously been unaware of shipping. The rise of the dark fleet will no doubt lead to more such exposés, and also the predicted accident that these unregulated operations will bring. Can we please all work together to stop it before it gets any worse?

Time to shine a light on the dark fleet

The moral compass of shipping has been called into question over participants cashing in on the dark fleet. Our special correspondent applauds this and hopes it might lead to action.

⊗

To continue reading, please login below or subscribe here.

Read Next

Owners advised to cash in

Measuring shipping hubs

April 2024 Review

The on/off risk premium for tankers

Curse of the dry cargo optimist

Owners advised to cash in

Measuring shipping hubs

April 2024 Review

The on/off risk premium for tankers

Curse of the dry cargo optimist

Maritime CEO Forum Singapore

Maritime CEO Forum Monaco

Advertising

Press Releases

Splash

Splash Extra

Splash Special Reports