The shadowy world of abandoned oil tankers in International Shipping News 12/02/2026 Over the past year there has been a big rise in the number of oil tankers and other commercial ships being abandoned around the world by their owners. What is causing the spike? And what is the human impact on the affected merchant sailors? Ivan (not his real name), spoke to me last month from an oil tanker that lies abandoned outside the territorial waters of China. He is a senior deck officer. “We had a shortage of meat, grain, fish, simple things for survival,” said the Russian officer. “It’s affected our health and our operational atmosphere. “The crew was hungry, the crew was angry, and we tried to survive only day-by-day.” The ship, which we are not naming to protect Ivan, is loaded with nearly 750,000 barrels of Russian crude oil with a nominal value of around $50m (£37m). It had set sail from Russia’s Far East for China in early November. It was reported abandoned in December, by global trade union organisation the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), after the crew said they had not been paid for months. The vessel remains in international waters. Such is the level of scrutiny surrounding it that China is understood to be unwilling to allow it into port. However, the ITF has intervened to get Ivan and his colleagues paid up to December, and arranged for food, drinking water and other essentials to be sent to the ship. While some crew members have been repatriated, most, like Ivan, are still on board. Back in 2016, 20 ships were abandoned around the world, according to the ITF. In 2025 the number had ballooned to 410, with 6,223 merchant seamen falling victim. Both of those figures for last year were up by almost a third on 2024. Geopolitical instability is said to have been a driving factor of the increase in recent years. Widespread conflicts around the world and the Covid pandemic have triggered supply chain disruption and wild variation in freight costs, meaning some operators are struggling to stay afloat. But the ITF says the growing prevalence of so-called “shadow fleets” could be contributing to the big spike last year. These ships, typically oil tankers such as the one Ivan is stuck on, are more often ageing vessels of obscure ownership, unseaworthy, likely uninsured, and operationally hazardous. And they typically sail under flags of convenience or FOCs – the ships are registered in countries with very limited regulatory oversight. The shadow fleet vessels are trying to stay under the radar to help countries such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela export their crude in contravention of Western sanctions. Take the case of Russia. Following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it has faced sanctions that capped the price it can charge for its crude. But Russia has found buyers willing to pay a higher price, such China and India, though the latter has now pledged to cease purchases under the terms of a recent US trade deal. FOCs have been flown by merchant ships for more than a century, as a means for owners to skirt laws and regulations at home. In the 1920s, it was common for American-owned passenger ships to register in Panama to bypass US prohibition laws and sell alcohol on board. Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the most common FOC states, representing 46.5% of all merchant ships by weight, but The Gambia has become a player in recent years. In 2023 there were no oil tankers registered to The Gambia, but by