Don't put trust in your AIS
- Thread starter Bobc
- Start date
Sandy
Well-known member
If you miss an oil tanker you really need to go to SpecSavers, other opticians are available.
Bobc
Well-known member
Exactly. What you don't want to do is be run over by one mid-ocean because you were relying on your AIS rather than keeping a lookout.
IanCC
Active member
I reckon they will be looking out on AIS though. Bit of a giveaway if they were to hit something.
[2574]
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Radar.
Roberto
Well-known member
Sometimes they cheat you to believe they are going one way whereas they go the opposite 
Stemar
Well-known member
Chances are they'd just keep going if there are no surviving witnesses
johnalison
Well-known member
Since failure to deploy AIS properly is not hard to detect, it behoves the authorities to sanction the companies and ships involved and effectively ban them from trading.
Stemar
Well-known member
They could stop them coming to most of Europe or the US, but I suspect that isn't where the blockade runners are going.
B27
Well-known member
I think some ships have been turning off AIS due to piracy issues.
I don't think these ships are likely to go stealthily up the English Channel then mysteriously appear in Felixstowe or similar, so it's probably not much of a 'first world problem'.
Probably more of an issue if you sail in the 2/3 of the world which doesn't have sanctions against Russia, they ship oil there, change the label, stick it in a big tank with a bit of Nigerian oil, and then ship it 'legitimately' to 'the West'.
That's why diesel isn't £2 a litre any more.
I don't think these ships are likely to go stealthily up the English Channel then mysteriously appear in Felixstowe or similar, so it's probably not much of a 'first world problem'.
Probably more of an issue if you sail in the 2/3 of the world which doesn't have sanctions against Russia, they ship oil there, change the label, stick it in a big tank with a bit of Nigerian oil, and then ship it 'legitimately' to 'the West'.
That's why diesel isn't £2 a litre any more.
wonkywinch
Well-known member
I did read there was growing (data privacy) concerns about the free availability of AIS data via the websites/apps & volunteer receiving stations.
dunedin
Well-known member
Would be a very naive ship captain who tried to do sanctions busting with substantial amounts of oil in a large tanker by simply switching off AIS.
I would be very surprised if the USA and others aren’t using satellites to monitor oil tanker movements to enforce sanctions, to from major oil depots and other “sensitive” locations. Any that suddenly do dark on AIS would be immediately flagged as suspicious and actively tracked by satellite and perhaps intercepted in international waters.
I would be very surprised if the USA and others aren’t using satellites to monitor oil tanker movements to enforce sanctions, to from major oil depots and other “sensitive” locations. Any that suddenly do dark on AIS would be immediately flagged as suspicious and actively tracked by satellite and perhaps intercepted in international waters.
newtothis
Well-known member
You'd be surprised how much of it goes on. One of the services the company I work for offers is analysis of the dark fleet. AIS often goes off, despite ships being required to transmit. It's not always dodgy but we track AIS breaks to work out which ones are.
Most of the 'sanctioned' oil being shifted is being done on non-EU ships and being sent to countries with, shall we say, slightly lower adherence to international norms. It is completely legal.
Where it gets interesting is when one of these tankers goes dark, parks up next to another tanker and does a ship-to-ship transfer, which muddies the origin of the cargo.
The main risk with illegally trading ships is that if they are breaking embargoes they are not insured. If there is an accident or spillage, the oil hits the fan.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Already done to monitor fisheries in the Southern Ocean.
newtothis
Well-known member
Okay, so you sanction Dodgy Owner Private Limited, registered to a P.O. Box in Panama, where the law prevents disclosure of directors. No joy there.
So why not sanction the ship? Well it has now been sold to a new company with no record of illegal trading. Can Dodgy Owner Private 2 Limited, registered to a P.O. Box in Panama, be held responsible for the illegal activities of a previous owner? Of course not.
Shipping is not a very transparent industry. Many ships are owned by single-ship shelf companies that are registered in opaque jurisdictions and fly the flags of open registries, as they like to be called.
I have colleagues whose whole job is trying to get to the bottom of who the real beneficial owners of ships are, often with little success. They recently found a number of dark fleet ships registered to a restaurant in South London.
capnsensible
Well-known member
Fog. Rain.
capnsensible
Well-known member
Cloud cover.
capnsensible
Well-known member
What percentage of small vessels have radar.....or people that know how to use it?
capnsensible
Well-known member
I realise I'm being a bit wah wah here, but hopefully folks may realise that a multi billion pound dark business will do what it's gotta do.....
johnalison
Well-known member
Sanction the lot. I’m in trouble if I buy stolen goods, so why not them?
