The Djibouti International Ship Register has scored a coup with an influx of merchant tonnage over the past year.
At least four VLCCs now fly the Djibouti flag, all after brushes with US sanctions.
Much of the former managed fleet of Singapore-based Mercantile & Maritime Trading reappeared last year under new flags, including Djibouti's, after a run-in with US authorities over Venezuelan trading.
Also at least one Chinese VLCC — and possibly two — has resorted to Djibouti after being hit with Iran sanctions.
The Red Sea city-state has previously not been in much demand as a flag of convenience. The IHS Sea-web database lists only 11 ships of over 1,000 dwt under its flag. All were entered last year except for one in October 2019.
Large tankers enjoy pride of place in the list.
Last year, three former Mercantile & Maritime VLCCs joined: the 299,200-dwt Ligera (ex-Trident Liberty, built 2002), 299,500-dwt Kitakaze (ex-Trident Tenacity, built 2001) and 299,400-dwt Mirame (ex-Trident Symphony, built 2001).
The current ownership of those three vessels is unclear. They were briefly part of a fleet the Murtaza Lakhani-controlled Mercantile & Maritime quickly assembled in 2019, operated through Turkish manager Medship, and then promptly sold off in 2020 after sanctions issues emerged.
A fourth Djibouti-flag VLCC, the 298,400-dwt Longbow Lake (built 2002), is controlled by Shanghai Tucson Roy Ship Management, previously known only for its brush with US sanctions enforcement.
TradeWinds reported in November 2019 that Shanghai Tucson Roy was listed as managing two VLCCs after owner Kunlun Shipping had been sanctioned for Iran trading. But a visit to its officially registered address turned up no such company.
VesselsValue attributes a fifth sanction-singed VLCC to the Djibouti flag, Kunlun Shipping's 299,900-dwt Latin Venture (built 2001). However, IHS Sea-web lists the Latin Venture under the Sierra Leone flag and owned by Zhejiang Taifu Supply Chain — another Kunlun successor whose operations TradeWinds was unable to verify when the sanctions issue emerged.
The next biggest ship flagged into Djibouti last year was an aframax, the 106,129-dwt Vesna (ex-Ocean Safari, built 2000), associated with Cosco Shipping Tanker Dalian. This entity, like Kunlun, was also unexpectedly hit by Trump administration sanctions in 2019.
Rounding out the brief list of oceangoing tonnage under the Djibouti flag were half-a-dozen smaller crude and gas carriers plus a couple of regionally trading handysize bulkers.
Off the radar
In the few months since reflagging, much of the new Djibouti-flag tonnage has been spending its time in the West African crude trades. But some of the ships apparently ceased transmitting AIS signals in late December, and two of them have reportedly been spotted loading Venezuelan crude.
The Mirame and Kitakaze last transmitted AIS signals on 13 December and 27 November, respectively.
Online Venezuela watcher Infodio reported in January that the ships had later been spotted loading crude for Venezuelan state-owned energy major Petroleos de Venezuela.
No owners or managers for the vessels could be contacted for comment.
