Recent analyses indicate that 45 shadow tankers trading with Russia are connected to a beneficial owner through 45 independent companies in Hong Kong. Of these, 42 tankers are subject to sanctions, and only three others have ISM managers in the UAE.
Characteristics of the Tanker Fleet
This fleet includes six Suezmax tankers, 33 Aframax tankers, and six medium tankers, with an average age of 22 years. Of these, 34 tankers are registered under the flag of Sierra Leone and nine tankers are under the flag of Equatorial Guinea.
Migration of Fleet Ownership to China and Hong Kong
Windward's analyses show that 12% of tankers linked to Russia are registered in China and another 10% in Hong Kong, which are respectively the largest and third-largest countries in terms of tanker ownership registration. The Marshall Islands rank second and Russia ranks fourth.
This fleet has recently connected to this cluster since early 2023, with their names, flags, and ownership changing. These tankers were previously owned by specific entities in Seychelles or the Marshall Islands. The beneficial owner of these 45 tankers is an unidentified nominee manager, which is a common method for concealing the identity of the actual owner.
Virtual Addresses in Hong Kong
The registered ownership addresses are linked to 20 locations across Hong Kong, with 13 addresses hosting between two to five tankers. Two tankers belong to companies that have declared their address as the ninth floor of the McDonald's building in Hong Kong. The Kowloon district accounts for the highest share with addresses of 19 owners from the 45 tankers, and the largest address includes five tankers in a room in the Admiralty area.
Management of Tankers in Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, addresses of 19 ISM managers have been provided for 42 tankers, 40 of which are related to companies that have apartments in an industrial area in Sumgayit, a former Soviet industrial city on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Two tankers are managed from Baku and three others from Sharjah. Azerbaijan has frequently been linked to oil and trading companies associated with Russia.
The naming of newly established companies in Hong Kong appears to follow a computer-generated pattern, arranged in the form of invented words with English phonetic patterns, a maritime term, and a corporate suffix. Four tankers have declared the name of their previous commercial controller as a shipping company based in Geneva that was sanctioned in May 2025, which was the transportation arm of a Russian oil producer.
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