Oil tankers not recorded on maritime databases suddenly turned around in the Baltic Sea.
This oil tanker is believed to be Arcusat, belonging to the Aframax type of oil tanker, moving through the narrow strait between Denmark and Sweden and signaling towards the Gulf of Finland. However, the oil tanker suddenly turned around on January 11 and is currently moving north towards the Arctic.
Ship brokers and oil businesses were very curious about the identity of the ship. The ship was listed as "unprecedented" on Equasis, an open source database widely used in the shipping industry.
Meanwhile, another database managed by the International Maritime Organization said that no ships linked to Arcusat's IMO number were found.
The turnaround in the Baltic Sea takes place in the context of increasing pressure on the fleet of old oil tankers worldwide. The US has confiscated ships related to Venezuela's oil exports. European countries are also committing to strengthening measures against old ships passing through the waters of these countries.
German media reported that German authorities have forced the oil tanker to turn around. However, German police said they could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
If confirmed, this will be the first time a European country has forced a dark ship to turn its head out of the Baltic Sea. If promoted, this strategy is likely to affect Russia's crude oil exports from this region.
Data shows that the Arcusat ship appeared to have been handed over from a Chinese shipyard last year. Databases are inconsistent about which country the ship is flying, some data lists the ship flying the Tanzanian flag and others Cameroon.
This tanker was recorded with the temporary name "Linhai Huajie LH202313" as "on order" in March last year in a global database, to be handed over by the Linhai Huajie shipyard in eastern China to its owner Semper Shipping, according to ship brokers.
However, in April of the same year, the ship completely disappeared from the file, with no information about handover.
Linhai Huajie's website said that this facility can build 50,000-ton ships, while the Aframax ship has a tonnage of at least 80,000 tons.
On Equasis, Semper Shipping is listed as the owner and manager of Arcusat. The company's registered address in Seychelles coincides with the address used by some US-sanctioned entities.
