platforms, regularly fell outside the range of the
satellite receiving the ship’s position.
Among the vessels caught suspected of falsifying
its digital tracks was the Tulip, a Panama-flagged
oil tanker. For almost six months last year, it
broadcast its position along the west coast of
Africa. But the satellite that should have picked
up the ship’s movements was often thousands of
miles away, suggesting the ship was likely
in Venezuela.
Internal documents from Venezuela’s state-
owned oil company indicating the Tulip loaded
450,000 barrels of fuel oil during the first 15
days of September. Like several other of the
suspicious vessels, the crude was purchased by a
shell company, M and Y Trading Co., registered in
Hong Kong in November 2020, according to the
documents. The Tulip is owned by another Hong
Kong-registered shell, Victory Marine Ltd. Neither
company returned emails seeking comment.
Bjorn Bergman, a data analyst for Global Fishing
Watch and Sky Truth, said attempts to hide a
ship’s position can be easily detected.
“While we need to remain vigilant, vessel
operators choosing to manipulate their data are
just going to end up shining a spotlight on their
activities,” he said.
Of the 200 vessels identified by Windward with
similar patterns of deception, the vast majority
exhibited no other or just a few classic red flags
such as disabling on-ship tracking systems,
falsifying a vessel’s flag state or constantly
changing ownership from one shell company
to another.