You are using an outdated browser For a better experience using this site, please upgrade to a modern web browser. Subscribe Get Daily Email Subscribe --> Contact Us Sign in Home News & Features Compliance Costs Bunker Prices Bunker Intelligence World News Latest Features World Americas EMEA Asia/Pacific Home News & Features World INSIGHT: When Bunkering Puts You on the Sanctions List INSIGHT: When Bunkering Puts You on the Sanctions List by Paul Henty, Partner, Beale & Co Wednesday July 29, 2026 Tweet Follow @shipandbunker Paul Henty, Partner, Beale & Co. Image Credit: Beale & Co The EU 's 21st sanctions package has done something to physical suppliers that no previous round managed. It has made your own trading history a source of sanctions risk. Until last week, physical suppliers generally approached EU sanctions risk stem by stem. You screened the vessel and the counterparty against the list, and if it was not on the list you stemmed. Get that moment right and the risk was managed. The criteria for listing vessels now reach ships that provide services to already-designated vessels, bunkering and towage among them, and ships that conduct ship-to-ship transfers with them. The Council applied the new ground at once. Five bunkering vessels were designated on the basis that they had regularly refuelled tankers already on the list. A crewing agency was listed for the first time among the fleet's service providers. “ Supply a designated vessel and you were in breach. Supply designated vessels often enough and you can end up on the list yourself. That is a change in kind rather than degree. Supply a designated vessel and you were in breach. Supply designated vessels often enough and you can end up on the list yourself. The consequence is not a penalty but a status, and it carries the port access ban and service denial that every operator here already understands. The distinction matters more than it sounds. A penalty, however heavy, is finite and lo