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The boss of the world’s largest listed tanker operator accused the United Nations maritime rule-making body of “sleeping behind the wheel” over a growing fleet of unregulated dark ships and said it was “only a matter of time” before a major disaster occurred.
Frontline Chief Executive Lars Barstad also criticized European governments for failing to enforce rules aimed at restricting trade in Russian oil, saying they feared it would push up energy prices.
The number of dark fleets has grown to about a fifth of the world’s fleet after shipowners linked to Russia bought hundreds of aging ships to circumvent Western restrictions on the country’s oil trade.
The potential for disaster was illustrated in July when the Hafnia Nile, a tanker operated by Singapore-based Hafnia, collided with the Seres 1, a Dark Fleet vessel carrying Iranian oil, in waters off Malaysia. .
According to a subsequent U.S. Treasury sanctions notice against the Ceres I owner, the ship’s radar system was broadcasting an inaccurate position at the time of the collision — a common tactic used by the Dark Fleet to try to hide its activities.
Dark fleets transporting oil from Iran, Venezuela and Russia are often the property of offshore companies whose ownership is unclear and often lack adequate insurance. They are often registered under the flag of countries that rarely enforce regular safety inspection rules.
Bastad said he was “very, very concerned” about the growth of Dark Fleet, which he said was spurring some “illegal operators” to make “crazy money.”
He added that the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency, was doing too little to ensure enforcement of its safety and environmental rules.
“All these vessels … are trading outside the IMO framework,” Bastad said. “They’ve been sleeping on the tanker side for a long time.”
Bastard added that there have been reports of other unconfirmed incidents besides the Ceres 1 collision. “I’m surprised we don’t have more incidents like this,” he said. “I think it’s just a matter of time before we get a big one.”
He said a ship like the Ceres I – which carries 2 million barrels of crude oil – could be split in half in a future accident.
“This is going to be a bigger problem for the environment,” Bastad said. “This could happen at any time – the big problem is that if this happens, no one will know who actually owns the ship or the cargo.”
Bastard added that shipowners that comply with regulations such as Frontline face a disadvantage because many other shipowners operate at lower costs in the unregulated dark fleet. He said this reflected a lack of willingness among politicians to enforce sanctions.
“Politicians have decided not to take political risks,” Bastad said, adding that he believed many would be worried about rising energy prices if Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil were truly excluded from international markets.
There have been suggestions that countries such as Denmark and the English Channel littoral states, which control the entrance to the Baltic Sea, should inspect and seize oil tankers that pass through their coasts without proper insurance.
Bastad declined to identify specific states, but said: “The approach to enforcement appears to be extremely half-hearted. If anyone is serious about this issue, they should take a tough stance.
The IMO responded to Bastad’s criticism after its assembly adopted a resolution in late 2023 calling on member states to take tougher action against fraudulent ship registrations and to step up inspections of ships in ports.
It also said member states have a responsibility to ensure that ships flying their flag comply with the rules set out and that ships visiting their ports do so.
