Alarm: Zombie Tanker in the Baltic Sea

Some 2,500 vessels in the grey fleet transport crude oil from sanctioned countries to countries that have imposed or pretend to have imposed sanctions. Zombie tankers have joined them. “Sanctioned tankers systematically adopt ‘dead’ IMO ship identification numbers [mainly from scrapped ships – MG] and existing ship numbers, hiding behind false flags to continue trading under the names of other tankers,” warns Lloyd’s List in its latest analysis, conducted in collaboration with SynMax Intelligence.

“Some operators have gone even further, sailing under completely fabricated IMO identification numbers that do not exist in official registers. These practices push the issue of maritime identity fraud beyond [legal identification of ships – MG] and beyond the compliance of documents and AIS information,” say Bridget Diakun, senior risk and compliance analyst at Lloyd’s List, and Cichen Shen, APAC Editor. They note that tankers that have come under surveillance are given a second life because they “actively steal and invent identities, defrauding the global ship tracking system.”

What is a zombie ship?

“A zombie ship is a ship that reappears in maritime systems after being scrapped, deregistered, or declared inactive. Such ships assume the identities of decommissioned ships—by adopting their IMO numbers, names, or flags—to operate clandestinely under the guise of legitimacy,” explain analysts at Windward, a ship tracking company.

This is an “identity laundering” tactic in maritime transport that allows sanctioned entities and smugglers to bypass detection by typical ship identification systems. Windward explains that “zombie ships exploit weaknesses in maritime data analytics and ship surveillance.” This allows illegal activities such as sanctions evasion, false flagging, and unauthorized ship-to-ship transfers (STS) to be concealed. Operators “exploit loopholes in the law and identification systems to operate undetected, enabling sanctions evasion, trade fraud, and supply chain disruption.”

In April, Bloomberg reported on this situation, stating that “zombie ships are quickly becoming a hallmark of the Venezuelan oil trade.” In April of this year, it was reported that “on Good Friday, an aging supertanker, fully loaded with crude oil, named Varada, reached waters east of Malaysia after a two-month voyage from Venezuela.”

Zombie Ship. Source: Windword

Zombie a Scrap Ship

“The ship raised concerns because it was 32 years old, meaning it would have been scrapped long ago, and it flew the Comoros flag, a common flag that makes ships difficult to monitor,” explain Weilun Soon, Oil and Shipping Reporter at Bloomberg News, and Julian Lee, Strategist at First Word Oil at Bloomberg. The ship appeared to be a “typical shadow tanker,” carrying oil from sanctioned countries, from producers like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. But it wasn’t.

The real Varada, which was not subject to sanctions, was actually scrapped in Bangladesh in 2017. The ship, which was carrying oil from Venezuela, was therefore a zombie ship. The operator gave it the identity of a scrapped ship to make it appear as a legitimate tanker. This allowed it to evade inspection by authorities in the US and elsewhere.

A ship in the Gadani scrapyard on January 16, 2022, reappeared as a zombie ship on March 14, 2025, near Iran and the United Arab Emirates. It used the same IMO number and sailed under the flag of Malta. Source: Windward

At the beginning of the year, at least four zombie ships were identified as being used to trade crude oil from Venezuelan sources. These vessels came to the fore when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on countries importing crude oil from the South American country. Bloomberg News used ship tracking data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence and analyzed satellite imagery of the waters near the José and Amuay oil export terminals in Venezuela. Based on this data, four vessels were identified by April of this year.

The images of the vessels using the José and Amuay oil terminals were compared with historical images of four vessels whose International Maritime Organization (IMO) names and numbers were seized by their operators. In each case, there were significant discrepancies between the zombie ships and their scrapped counterparts, including deck shapes, layouts, and colors. For obvious reasons, the four scrapped ships were not sanctioned by any government.

The Disappearing Panda

Lloyd’s List recently identified two tankers that used IMO “dead tanker” numbers to conceal their true identities. SynMax identified the sanctioned vessels, disguised as “dead tankers,” as the ex-Panda (IMO: 9284582) and the Koen (IMO: 9199127).

The Panda is a 105,194-tonne vessel. First sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on January 10, 2025, it has not used its true IMO number since April 2025 and has instead, according to SynMax, used IMO “dead tanker” numbers under the name Birth Young. From April to May 2025, the vessel used the IMO number of Oceania (IMO: 9233313), a tanker wrecked in August 2021, while also assigning an MMSI number associated with the Guyanese flag registry.

The tanker Panda, known as Birth Yang. Source: SynMax. Lloyd’s List

The Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) database indicates that Birth Young was illegally flagged in Guyana, fraudulently using its registry and flag without government approval. Birth Young abandoned its Oceania IMO number in mid-May, focusing instead on using a different, defunct IMO number, formerly belonging to Aframax River (IMO: 9259173). However, the flag was associated with an MMSI number indicating its use of links to Gambia.

Analysis of AIS data reveals that Birth Young began manipulating its IMO number in early April of this year. Vessel tracking data shows that the vessel has been anchored off the east coast of Malaysia since August. However, earlier, between June 24 and 26, it spent several days in the waters off the coast of Qingdao and Rizhao in Shandong Province, according to Bridget Diakun and Cichen Shen in Lloyd’s List.

Windward’s description of the zombie ship’s operation: 

“The Third Way”

“Zombie ships are the third way,” said Mark Douglas, a maritime analyst at Starboard. “The thinking is, ‘I can’t afford to run my own system, so I’ll use another ship’s identity to transport oil from point A to point B,'” reports Bloomberg. It has been estimated that the four identified zombie tankers could transport a total of about 7 million barrels of oil.

Data collected for the Varada vessel shows that it traveled from the José terminal via the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to Malaysian waters and turned off its AIS on April 18th. It listed its destination as “on order,” and its draft readings indicated the ship was loaded. This meant its tanks were filled with Venezuelan crude. Satellite imagery analyzed by Bloomberg showed the zombie ship was in the Malaysian area on April 19th, 21st, 24th, and 26th. This area off the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia is a popular transshipment point, where shadow fleet vessels transfer crude oil to other vessels (STS) before it reaches Chinese refineries.

Data from Starboard and Bloomberg suggests that the vessel impersonating the Varada is actually the M Sophia. It was built in 2004 and was targeted by US sanctions imposed on Russian oil shipments in January by the outgoing Biden administration. The vessel falsely reported being in the Gulf of Guinea. The M Sophia fits the profile of a “zombie” vessel, as it has no identified owner or insurer and is apparently flying a false flag.

The Zombie Ship’s Route in the Baltic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. Source: SynMax. Lloyd’s List.

Zombie in the Baltic Sea

The approximately 145,000-ton tanker Izumo, which was sanctioned on October 2, 2024, is currently sailing the seas. This Suezmax vessel last used its own IMO identification system in February 2025, when it identified itself as Glistar and provided an MMSI number associated with Guyana, according to Bridget Diakun and Cichen Shen, who used SynMax Intelligence data.

Then, IMO number 1107697, belonging to the Chinese-flagged tug Feng Shou Xiao Niu, suddenly appeared on the AIS system assigned to a tanker operating under the name Tiko. Here, too, a Guyanese MMSI number was used. This differs from the number associated with the Glistar, making it difficult to link the vessel to the Izumo. In March 2025, this number changed to Homya (IMO: 1107697), which currently flies the flag of Tanzania, according to SynMax Intelligence data.

The Aframax Tia (IMO: 9147447), sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) since August 9, 2024, goes a step further. Its current identity is based on a completely fabricated IMO number. The fake IMO number 1095337 does not exist in the IMO’s GISIS database. The real IMO number of the Tia was last visible in AIS data in October 2024. On May 20, 2025, the non-existent IMO number appeared in AIS transmissions under the name Arcusat, using an MMSI number associated with Guyana. This is not the same Guyana MMSI number previously associated with Tia’s real identity. This indicates fraud.

Identification of the zombie vessel Tavian. Source: SynMax. Lloyd’s List.

In July 2025, the Arcusat switched to a Cameroonian MMSI number and, at the end of that month, changed its name to Tavian. The vessel departed the Chinese port of Zhoushan in May of that year. Interestingly, on November 20, 2025, the Arcusat (IMO: 1095337) is still identified by Marine Traffic as a “Cameroon-flagged crude oil tanker. Its length overall (LOA) is 244 meters and its beam is 42 meters.”

Vessel Finder is much more accurate, as on November 17, 2025, it reports that “The current position of the Tavian in the Baltic Sea was reported 45 minutes ago by AIS. The vessel is heading to the port of Ust-Luga in Russia, traveling at a speed of 0.4 knots. It is expected to arrive there on November 18 at 7:00 PM.”

The vessel Tavian (IMO 1095337, MMSI 613938500) is a tanker built in 2025 and currently sailing under the flag of Cameroon. According to China Shipbuilding, the Tavian-Arcusat (LOA: 243.92 m) is a crude oil carrier with a deadweight tonnage of 107,994 tons. The owner (or operator) is Sempre Shipping Ltd., built by Linhai Huajie Shipbuilding, and sailed from the shipyard under the flag of Tanzania.

The zombie ship’s route and position. Source: SynMax Intelligence

Tracking data indicates that the ship sailed west from China, deactivating its AIS system in the Arabian Sea. It reappeared more than 40 days later in the Gulf of Oman. It continued its westward journey through the Mediterranean in September and then, on October 15, docked at the Russian port of Primorsk. Vessel Finder indicates that the ship is heading to the port of Ust-Luga. After refueling, the ship will likely sail again to a Chinese port.

The use of zombie ships allows shadow fleet operators to circumvent oil transport restrictions and sanctions. Bloomberg first reported the appearance of a zombie tanker in a Chinese port last September. In November, it detailed the voyage of the supposedly scrapped ship. The use of zombie ships to transport sanctioned oil is becoming increasingly common.