Editor's Choice
UK Commandos Board Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker in Historic English Channel Seizure
UK Commandos Board Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker in Historic English Channel Seizure
First British-led operation targets oil revenues bankrolling Moscow’s Ukraine war
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Royal Marine Commandos have boarded and seized a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker in the English Channel in what is being described as a landmark escalation by the United Kingdom in the global effort to choke off the oil revenues sustaining Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.The vessel, identified as the Smyrtos and sailing under a Cameroon flag, was intercepted in the early hours of Sunday in a joint operation involving Chinook helicopters, surveillance aircraft, a Royal Navy frigate, and a Royal Navy minehunter — a deployment that underscored the seriousness with which London is now approaching sanctions enforcement on the high seas.Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) accompanied the commandos onto the vessel, scrutinising cargo records and shipping documents as part of ongoing investigations. Footage released by the British government showed commandos fast-roping onto the tanker’s deck in the pre-dawn darkness.
It is the first time Britain has taken the lead in directly interdicting a vessel linked to Russia’s shadow fleet — a murky network of ageing, obscurely-owned tankers that Moscow has deployed to move its crude oil beyond the reach of Western sanctions.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the operation sent an unambiguous message to those propping up the Kremlin’s war chest. “This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fuelling Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide,” he posted on X.
The Smyrtos will remain detained off England’s south coast pending further investigation. Paris co-operated closely with London in the operation, the UK government confirmed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the seizure and called on European governments to go even further, urging legislative action that would permit not just the detention of tankers but the outright confiscation of their cargoes. “This will certainly help bring peace closer,” he wrote.
Britain has been steadily tightening its grip on shadow fleet activity. Since launching its crackdown, London has sanctioned close to 600 vessels associated with the network. In March, Prime Minister Starmer authorised the British military to board and detain Russian-linked ships suspected of sanctions evasion — authority that was used operationally for the first time on Sunday.
What it means for global shipping
The operation carries significant implications for maritime commerce worldwide, including for Nigerian shipping operators, freight forwarders, and vessel owners with international exposure. Flag states — including African nations whose flags have been exploited by shadow fleet operators seeking cover — may face increased scrutiny from European maritime authorities.
Nigeria, as a prominent flag-of-convenience registrant and a major oil-exporting nation, has a stake in how the international community tightens regulations around tanker ownership transparency, beneficial ownership disclosure, and sanctioned-cargo tracking. The Cameroon flag flown by the Smyrtos at the time of its seizure is a reminder that African maritime registries can be drawn into geopolitical disputes well beyond the continent’s shores.
Maritime legal experts say the British action may embolden other nations to adopt more aggressive enforcement postures, potentially reshaping the legal landscape around vessel detention in international and territorial waters.
Waterways News — Nigeria’s Most Authoritative Maritime News
Editor's Choice
Liberia Crosses Historic 300 Million GT Threshold, Tightens Grip on Global Ship Registry Leadership
Liberia Crosses Historic 300 Million GT Threshold, Tightens Grip on Global Ship Registry Leadership
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Liberian Ship Registry has written another chapter into global maritime history, becoming the first flag administration in the world to surpass 300 million gross tons (GT) in registered fleet size, a feat that further entrenches its standing as the largest and fastest-growing ship registry on the planet.
Figures released by international maritime data and intelligence provider Clarksons show that the Liberian-flagged fleet, administered on behalf of the Liberian Maritime Authority by the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry (LISCR), hit 307.3 million gross tons as of June 8, 2026 — a tonnage figure that dwarfs the combined capacity of several traditional maritime nations and underscores just how dominant the West African nation’s flag has become in the eyes of global shipowners.
From Challenger to Undisputed Leader
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders watching the global flag-state landscape, the scale of Liberia’s ascent is worth pausing on. As recently as June 2023, Liberia overtook Panama — a registry that had held the title of the world’s largest for three uninterrupted decades, stretching back to 1993 — to become the new number one by gross tonnage. At that point, Liberia’s fleet stood at 246.5 million GT.
In the three years since dethroning Panama, Liberia has added more than 60 million gross tons to its books, a rate of expansion that few open registries, including those competing aggressively for newbuilding business, have managed to match. The Registry now accounts for roughly 17 percent of the entire global merchant fleet by tonnage, with 6,092 vessels currently flying the Liberian flag, according to data from IHS.
Newbuildings Driving the Surge
Behind the headline number lies a structural shift in how shipowners are choosing to flag their vessels, particularly newly constructed ones. Over the past two years, Liberia has firmly established itself as the preferred flag of choice for new tonnage entering the water, capturing an extraordinary 28 percent of all global newbuilding gross tonnage during that period.
This newbuilding dominance has translated directly into the Registry’s most recent growth figures: between June 2025 and June 2026 alone, the Liberian fleet expanded by 9.3 percent in tonnage — a growth rate that, on a fleet this size, represents tens of millions of additional gross tons in just twelve months.
LISCR Leadership Reacts
Reacting to the milestone, LISCR Chief Executive Officer, Alfonso Castillero, attributed the achievement to the Registry’s global workforce and the sustained confidence shipowners have placed in the Liberian flag.
“This milestone belongs to every member of the Registry’s team. Our people, across every office, in every time zone, in every discipline, show up every single day with a commitment to our clients and to the standards that make this registry what it is,” Castillero said.
He added: “Behind every gross tonne is a vessel, and behind every vessel is a shipowner who chose to trust us. That trust is something we never take for granted, and it is the team that earns it, day after day.”
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria’s maritime sector, Liberia’s record-setting growth offers more than a curiosity from the world of flag administration — it is a live case study in how an open registry, built on service quality, regulatory responsiveness and global trust, can capture an outsized share of one of shipping’s most strategically important commodities: where vessels are flagged.
Nigeria does not operate as an international open registry in the Liberian or Panamanian mould, and its cabotage regime under the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act is built around very different objectives — protecting indigenous tonnage and shipowners rather than competing for global flag-of-convenience traffic. Even so, the scale and speed of Liberia’s growth carries indirect relevance for stakeholders across Apapa, Tin Can Island, Onne, Lekki and the wider Nigerian port complex.
A significant share of the foreign-owned vessels calling at Nigerian terminals, including the crude carriers, product tankers and container ships that move Nigerian export and import cargo, are likely to be Liberian-flagged given the Registry’s near 17 percent share of global tonnage and its grip on newbuilding registrations. That means NIMASA’s port state control inspectors, NPA’s terminal operations teams and Nigerian Navy maritime domain awareness units are routinely interacting with the Liberian flag administration’s standards, certification regimes and survey requirements — whether through SOLAS, MARPOL or STCW compliance checks on calling vessels.
The episode also offers a pointed reference point as Nigeria continues its long-running effort to revive its national shipping line and build out indigenous tonnage capacity through mechanisms such as the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF). Liberia’s success illustrates how registry reputation, ease of registration, competitive fee structures and responsive client service can become decisive factors in where shipowners choose to place their vessels — lessons that may inform Nigeria’s own efforts, including NIMASA’s recent ship registry reform partnership with Malta, as the country seeks to make its own flag more attractive to both indigenous and, potentially, foreign-owned tonnage in the years ahead.
For now, Liberia’s 307.3 million GT milestone stands as a benchmark figure against which the ambitions of every other registry — including any future expansion of Nigeria’s own fleet registration regime — will inevitably be measured.
11 Feared Dead as Boat Conveying Burial Mourners Capsizes on River Benue
By Emetena Ikuku | Waterways News
At least 11 people, including a pregnant woman and six children, are feared dead following the capsizing of a boat conveying mourners back from a burial ceremony on the River Benue in Makurdi Local Government Area, Benue State.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening as passengers were returning to Daududawadawa, an island community located behind the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering barracks in the North Bank area of Makurdi.
According to local accounts, the boat — said to be carrying more than 40 passengers — overturned mid-river between 7pm and 8pm amid heavy rainfall and strong winds.
The Commander of Operation Shara (Sweep), a North Bank vigilante outfit, Nura Umar, confirmed that the victims were returning from the burial of a woman from their community held in Wadata. The deceased had reportedly died at a private hospital in North Bank on Saturday morning, after which her remains were taken to Wadata for burial before mourners began their return trip by boat.
Umar said four bodies had been recovered and buried, while divers continued searching for the remaining victims. He added that one survivor had been carrying a baby on her back who did not survive the accident.
The spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command said she had yet to receive an official report on the incident.
The accident comes about six months after the Benue State Government pledged tighter safety enforcement on the state’s waterways following recurring boat mishaps.
Nigeria Watch
This latest tragedy on the River Benue underscores the persistent gap between policy pronouncements and enforcement on Nigeria’s inland waterways. Despite repeated commitments by state governments, including Benue’s pledge six months ago to tighten safety regulations, fatal boat accidents continue largely unabated across the country’s riverine and inland transport corridors.
For the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and state agencies such as the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the Makurdi disaster is a stark reminder that safety regulation cannot remain concentrated in major commercial waterways alone. Inland communities that depend on boats as their primary — often only — means of transport, particularly during the rainy season, remain acutely vulnerable to overloading, lack of life jackets, and absence of weather advisories.
The recurring pattern of overloaded vessels operating without basic safety equipment, often during adverse weather, points to a systemic enforcement failure rather than isolated incidents. With the rainy season intensifying across Nigeria’s middle belt and riverine states, stakeholders in the maritime safety ecosystem — including NIWA, state waterways authorities, and community-level vigilante and emergency response groups — face renewed pressure to extend life jacket distribution programmes, weather alert systems, and passenger manifest enforcement beyond the commercial ports and into Nigeria’s vast network of inland river crossings, where the human cost of inaction continues to mount.
Editor's Choice
14 Indian Seafarers Rescued After Vessel Breakdown in Northern Arabian Sea, Amid Heightened US-India Maritime Tensions
14 Indian Seafarers Rescued After Vessel Breakdown in Northern Arabian Sea, Amid Heightened US-India Maritime Tensions
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
All 14 Indian crew members of the disabled dhow Virat 1 have been rescued after a multi-agency search-and-rescue operation in the Northern Arabian Sea off Oman, involving the US Navy, Omani authorities, and a diverting merchant vessel.
The crew abandoned ship after an engine failure forced them into a liferaft. A US Navy P-8 patrol aircraft was first on scene, dropping rescue equipment the crew used to board the raft. The UAE-flagged cargo vessel Jabal Ali 9 recovered 11 of the mariners, while the remaining three—whose raft reportedly capsized in rough seas—were airlifted by an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The destroyer USS Michael Murphy also took part in the operation. The Indian Embassy in Oman confirmed all 14 were safe and en route to Mumbai aboard Jabal Ali 9.
The rescue comes amid rising friction between Washington and New Delhi following the deaths of three Indian seafarers aboard the tanker Settebello during a US blockade-enforcement operation in the Gulf of Oman last week. India’s External Affairs Minister has formally protested the incident to the US Secretary of State, while Washington maintains commercial vessels must comply with enforcement actions tied to sanctions on Iranian oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Nigeria Watch
The episode underscores the growing peril facing seafarers—including Nigerians—transiting chokepoints affected by the Hormuz crisis. With Nigerian crude exports and freight rates already sensitive to disruptions in the region, NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy should reinforce advisories for Nigerian-flagged and Nigerian-crewed vessels operating near the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz.
The incident also reinforces calls from the ITF and seafarer welfare bodies for stronger protections and rapid-response protocols for crews caught in militarized shipping lanes—an issue Waterways News has tracked closely as Gulf tensions escalate and war-risk premiums climb for vessels serving Nigerian trade routes.
Oil and Gas3 months agoTantita’s Pipeline Deal: $144m Contract, Rising Output, and the Questions that Deserve Answers
- MARITIME TRADE & SHIPPING3 months ago
World’s Largest Container Ship Sets New Maritime Record with 22,233 TEUs on Single Voyage
- Blue Economy4 months ago
Nigeria’s Coast Guard Bill: A Solution in Search of a Problem?
