Panama ship registry to clamp down on shadow fleet with tracking and reporting

The Panama maritime authority (PMA) has imposed a policy that requires all oil tankers operating under its flag to give 48 hours’ notice before their ship-to-ship (STS) transfers.

IMAGE: Container ship enters the Panama Canal at dawn. The Bridge of Americas is visible in the background. Getty Images

The step is part of the ship registry's clamp-down on shadow fleet activity, it said.

The global ‘shadow fleet’ is made up of aging, substandard vessels that are used to bypass sanctions designed to limit illicit crude oil shipments and STS transfers.

Under the regulation, any Panama-flagged oil tankers of 150 gross tonnage or more must submit detailed technical and logistical information on planned STS activities to the PMA at least two days before the transfer.

The mandatory information includes the names, flags, call signs and IMO numbers of the vessels. Shipowners and operators must also inform the PMA which types and quantities of hydrocarbons are being transferred, it said.

“If the estimated arrival time at the transshipment point varies by more than six hours, the vessel’s captain, owner, or DPA [designated person ashore] must update the notification to the PMA,” it said.

Vessels that fail to comply with the regulation risk losing their Panamanian flag, according to the official statement.

The regulation follows last week’s de-listing 17 Panama-flagged vessels recently targeted by the US government for facilitating sanctioned oil transport.

“This measure responds to the increasing use of vessels in illicit activities such as covert crude transport, sanctions evasion, and operations lacking environmental controls,” the PMA added.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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