Japan has imposed an asset freeze on a Dubai-based subsidiary of Russian state carrier Sovcomflot even though ships under its management have moved to another company.
Sun Ship Management had 24 ships under management when it was sanctioned by the US authorities in December 2023 but now has none and the move by G7 member Japan appears largely symbolic.
The Dubai-based company was the only shipping company targeted by Japan among 29 companies and 11 individuals in measures announced on Friday. Sun Ship is the sole non-Russian or Belarusian entity on the list.
Sun Ship has been part of SCF Group since 2012 but expanded its operations after the Russian company closed its Cypriot management offices because of European Union sanctions and shifted its vessels to Dubai.
The US, UK and EU all targeted Sun Ship in 2023 and the SCF Group responded by moving tankers under its control to another Dubai-based entity, Oil Tankers SCF Mgmt FZCO.
Oil Tankers SCF was subsequently targeted by the UK in December and by the US in February, prompting a further reshuffling of the fleet.
Oil Tankers SCF now has only three tankers on its books, according to Equasis, all of them on the 40-strong US blacklist of tankers owing to Russia links or alleged breaches of the oil price cap.
They are the 115,700-dwt Kazan (built 2003), the 110,00-dwt Kotlas (ex-NS Champion, built 2005) and the 118,300-dwt Anatoly Kolodkin (built 2013).
One ship that was managed both by Sun Ship and Oil Tankers SCF, the sanctioned 115,900-dwt NS Leader (built 2007), is now on the books of St Petersburg, Russia-based manager Invest Fleet Ltd, according to Equasis.
Invest Fleet has 10 ships under commercial or technical management, including tankers named in the EU’s first blacklisting of vessels last week, the ownership database shows.
More than 20 individual SCF Group vessels have now been targeted by Western sanctions. The tactic has prompted Sovcomflot to rename some of its tankers and shift them to the domestic flag, to move them out of the orbit of Western regulators.
The move by Japan is one of a series taken by G7 nations and the EU in the last week targeting the Russian carrier. The EU on Monday announced the designation of Igor Tonkovidov, the company’s CEO.
Tonkovidov on Tuesday criticised the move saying it did nothing for the safety of shipping in European waters. He said the move separated the global fleet into “antagonistic camps” that threatened the industry’s safety culture.
SCF Group has been approached for comment on the Japanese designation.
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