Friday morning fix on the Malta-flagged Seajewel, a tanker carrying Russian crude oil that was hit by unexplained explosions on Feb. 14. Kyiv Post screen grab from the ship tracker VesselFinder.
The Seajewel is owned by a Greek company and was loaded with Russian crude oil for export to Europe in evasion of sanctions on Russia, the article said. The shipping news publication TradeWinds reported the company is Thenmaris, an Athens-headquartered ship management firm operating 93 vessels, among them 51 tankers worldwide. Corporate publications said the Seajewel is double-hulled, has a deadweight of 108,888 tons and a capacity 127,525 cubic meters of product.
Thenamaris also operates the Seacharm, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker damaged by an explosion while near the Turkish oil transport port Ceyhan on Jan 17-18. International ship tracking showed that vessel anchored off shore in Savona, Italy, a few kilometers from the Seajewel.
International shipping information platforms have suggested an explosion hitting the Liberia-flagged chemical-product tanker Grace Ferrum off the Libyan coast in February may be part of a campaign by unknown persons or state actors to undermine the operations of Russia’s shadow tanker fleet. The Athens-based news platform Greek City Times reported a Cypriot company called Cymare was the Grace Ferrum’s operator. Reportedly, the Grace Ferrum suffered substantial damage from the explosion and requires salvage. Ship tracking platforms on Friday showed the vessel at anchor off shore from the Algerian port Tripoli.
According to ship tracking data and industry sources cited by the Reuters news agency all three tankers – the Seajewel, the Seacharm and the Grace Ferrum – had visited Russian ports prior to entering the Mediterranean and subsequently being hit by unexplained blasts.
The most notable possible attack against a Russian freight vessel operating in Mediterranean waters took place on Dec. 23, 2024, when an unexplained explosion took place in the engine room of the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major off the Spanish coast. Two crew died and the ship sank. The ship was operated by the Russian military company Oboronlogisitics, whose management in a statement claimed the loss was the result of a “targeted terrorist attack.”
According to open source tracking data, the ship’s main mission in recent years had been to move weapons and military supplies between Russian homeland ports and Russian overseas contingents in Syria.
The European Union on Wednesday approved its 16th package of sanctions against Russia, targeting Russian aluminum exports, 13 banks, individual Russian ports and airports, and blacklisting 73 tankers participating in Russian “shadow fleet” operations.
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Publish date : 2025-02-21 05:02:00
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