A VLCC recycled three years ago appears to have re-emerged in China with a cargo of crude.
An unknown vessel seems to be using the name and IMO number of the 336,300-dwt EM Longevity (built 2000), which was listed as dead in shipping databases from December 2021.
Data analysed by Bloomberg showed that it sailed past Iran before appearing in China loaded with a crude cargo.
The use of defunct vessels’ identities is a way for dark fleet operators to beat sanctions and manipulate the AIS system.
Jan Stockbruegger, a research fellow at the University of Copenhagen’s Ocean Infrastructure Research Group, told Bloomberg: “This seems like a vessel that’s signalling that it’s legitimate just so that it can sail under the radar.”
AIS data shows the flag as Eswatini. The African country has said hundreds of ships use its flag without permission.
The tanker started to sail past the Strait of Hormuz into waters near Iran on 11 August, with a half-load, data shows.
Over the next five days, it stayed off the Kharg Island oil terminal in Iran, then began to head east.
AIS now shows the “EM Longevity” moored in Yantian, China, after arriving on 29 September.
The tanker left Dalian on 25 September.
21 years at sea
The EM Longevity was Singapore-flagged when it was recycled.
It was built at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ yard in Ulsan for Greece’s Olympic Shipping as Olympic Hawk.
It was eventually sold to Honam Oil Refinery in South Korea in 2015 as N Topaz.
France’s Perenco then bought it as Bag Meur.
The last owner was Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services in Singapore, which acquired the vessel in 2021 with a special survey due.
This was when it became the EM Longevity.
The owner sold it for scrap into Bangladesh a year later at $592 per ldt, according to VesselsValue.
Equatorial Marine has been contacted for comment.
