The oil tanker believed to be carrying Russian fuel on its way to Cuba is using "dark fleet" tactics to deceive, including signal manipulation and oil transfer between offshore ships, according to maritime intelligence company Windward.
According to MarineTraffic, the Sea Horse was positioned on February 24 off the east coast of the United States with a signal recorded as "non-fixed".
The appearance of a Russian oil tanker in the area occurred when the US was putting pressure on Cuba's fuel supply, disrupting transportation and targeting third countries supplying oil to this country.
On January 29, President Donald Trump also signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency for Cuba and allowing tariffs on imports from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba.
Windward said that on February 7, the Russian oil tanker initially signaled Havana as its destination and the ship was flying the Hong Kong (China) flag. However, the ship then quietly changed direction.
According to Windward, this oil tanker is expected to arrive in Cuba in early March.
The ship changed its AIS signal to show it would arrive in the "Caribbean Sea" within 2 weeks. This is a vague destination designation commonly used to hide the ship's last stop, according to the maritime intelligence company.
The destination was then changed to Gibraltar to receive orders, even after the oil tanker had passed through the strait. This move was described by Windward as inconsistent with the standard trade route.
Windward's analysis also showed that the ship unloaded goods through ship-to-ship transfer, which was carried out offshore near Cyprus.
During unloading, the oil tanker's AIS signal was temporarily turned off. This is "a fraudulent maritime operation tactic designed to evade supervision by regulators," Windward noted.
Windward's data also shows that the draft of this oil tanker increased on February 8, a few days after leaving the area used for floating storage and transshipment of shipments of Russian medium-sized distillate products originating from Black Sea ports.
According to Windward, this oil tanker was anchored in that area for about 2 weeks before leaving.
The transfer of oil between ships outside territorial waters, where the supervision of the port state is limited, has become a common practice in oil trade to evade sanctions and regulatory supervision" - Windward informed.
The company added that manipulating the AIS system, offshore oil transfer and unclear destination reporting are currently standard characteristics of shadow fleet operations to maintain Russia's oil exports amid Western sanctions.
Cuba is facing an energy crisis in recent weeks after oil shipments from Venezuela, the country's main supplier, were suspended in early January.
Mexico, another major supplier, has also temporarily suspended fuel trains to Cuba.
