‘Fraudulent flagging’ of Iranian tankers poses safety risk

A large number of Iranian oil tankers routinely transmit fake identities or the identities of other ships to conceal their own, according to Windward, a maritime technology company founded in Israel and now based in London. Of more than 540 tankers identified as transporting Iranian oil products, 40 percent were falsely flagged, according to data collected by the US-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The practice raises the risk of poorly regulated, badly maintained tankers sailing with invalid insurance on some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Most of the ships listed by UANI are older than 20 years, an advanced age for very large crude carriers (VLCCs). Experts say that failure to regulate and properly identify such ships increases the threat of a serious oil disaster.