The shadowy world of abandoned oil tankers

AFP via Getty ImagesThe number of abandoned oil tankers and other commercial ships has shot upOver 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.ITFSometimes ships are abandoned in port, while others are left out at seaBack 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 Gambia has become a player in recent years.In 2023 there were no oil tankers registered to Gambia, but by March last year it had become paper-host to 35 such vessels. Host nations enjoy sizeable fees.FOC vessels feature prominently in abandonment. In 2025 they accounted for 337 ships, or 82% of the total. The number of shadow-fleet ships among this number is unclear, but such is the poor state of these vessels and the sketchy ownership structures behind them, it would appear to expose these crafts and their crews to greater risk.The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) guidance is that a seafarer is abandoned when their shipowner fails to cover the cost of his or her repatriation, or has left them without the necessary maintenance and support, or has otherwise unilaterally severed ties with them. The latter includes failure to pay contractual wages for a period of at least two months.The ITF's General Secretary Stephen Cotton tells the BBC that "abandonment isn't an accident". He adds: "Seafarers don't really know where they're going."They sign a contract, they go to somewhere else in the world, and they're confronted by lots of different challenges."ITFCrews of abandoned ships risk running out of fresh waterLast year abandoned merchant navy crews around the world were owed a total of $25.8m, according to data from two UN agencies, the IMO, and the International Labour Organization.The ITF claims they have recovered and returned nearly two thirds of this, $16.5m. The wage arrears on Ivan's ship were in the region of $175,000 at the time of the ITF's initial involvement.The most affected nationality for maritime abandonment in 2025 were Indian sailors, accounting for 1,125, or 18% of the total. Filipinos (539) and Syrians (309) come second and third.In September last year, to protect its important seafaring community, the Indian government blacklisted 86 foreign vessels over seafarer abandonment and rights-violation issues. Investigations found many of them had untraceable owners or no response from flag states.ITFAbandoned crews can spend months stuck on their shipsMark Dickinson is the general secretary of Nautilus International, a trade union for maritime professionals.He blames these FOC states for "a complete derogation of responsibility" towards their merchant fleets and the crews who sail on them.He says there must be "a genuine link between ship owners and the flags under which they sail". This link is already mandated under international maritime law, but there is no universally-agreed definition.Ivan's ship was sailing under a false Gambian flag, unregistered and unknown to Gambia. It has since has been provisionally accepted under the flag of another African nation that it is said to have opened a formal inquiry into the vessel.ITF inspector Nathan Smith tells me that he expects the tanker's fate will be resolved only when the oil is transferred off the ship through a ship-to-ship transfer in open sea.Ivan says that in the future he will check more carefully about any ship crew he joins."For sure I will have a proper discussion about the vessel's condition, about payment and provisions. And turn to the internet, where we can see which vessels are banned, which vessels are under sanction."Seafarers like Ivan are often at the mercy of the contracts available. With shadow-fleet voyages a key feature of the supply chain for Russian oil, greater international cooperation will be needed to protect seafarers from the inherent risks of maritime service. global business storiesCaribbean cannabis growers eye budding domestic sales and exportsHow Slovakia became the world's number one carmaker'The finest in the world': Why the US is buying icebreakers from FinlandThe French university where spies go for trainingInternational sanctionsWorld of BusinessInternational BusinessGlobal tradeEconomic sanctionsRussia economyOil & Gas industryRussia sanctions