Sanctions squeeze Iran's oil fleet as Russia gains edge
According to data from the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, over a thousand container ships in the so-called shadow fleet have been subjected to Western sanctions since the end of last year. This has left Russia, Iran, and Venezuela competing for the vessels that haven't been added to the sanctions lists.
Following further sanctions from the United States and the European Union on tankers transporting Russian crude oil, the fleet of available ships has significantly decreased. According to Bloomberg, Iran faces significant difficulties in selling its crude oil.
In 2024, Tehran used approximately 150 tankers for transporting its crude oil, but now over 100 of them have been added to the list of sanctioned ships by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Problem for Iran, Moscow has the advantage
This poses a significant problem for Iran, which commits China, with whom it signed a contract to deliver 25 million barrels of crude oil. Due to the increased number of tankers added to the sanctions list, Tehran has been selling less of this resource. Deliveries have dropped to around 1.5 million barrels per day, compared to 1.76 million in November last year. Bloomberg predicted two days ago that by May, exports could fall to a third of the current level.
Russia has an advantage in this race for container ships, attracting carriers with higher freight rates. Countries such as Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, the Union of the Comoros, Gabon, and landlocked Eswatini primarily benefit from this opportunity. Over the past twelve months, all these countries have seen enormous increases in the number of ships flying their flags.
Fewer available tankers
The global fleet of tankers consists of about 14,000 ships, including 3,000 crude oil tankers and 11,000 for products and chemicals. Since the end of last year, the number of tankers subjected to sanctions by the USA, EU, and the G7 group of countries has exceeded a thousand.
The American corporation S&P Global Market Intelligence, which deals with financial analyses, revealed in its February report that over 800 of these do not have confirmed insurance.
Moreover, the average age of sanctioned ships is 21, about eight years older than the global average. This does not hinder profit-driven African companies managing these flags in any way.
