Panama registration with new US sanctions

Panamanian-flagged ships remain subject to the United States blockade refers to maritime companies associated with the transfer of fuel from Russia, this time under Russia’s flagship natural gas project called Arctic LNG 2.

Maritime magazine Lloyd’s List reported that the United States had imposed sanctions on two Turkish companies accused of supporting blockaded Russian ships and two Panamanian-flagged floating storage vessels linked to Russia’s Arctic ambitions.

In the case of the Panamanian registry, these are two new-build LNG FSRU ships, according to Lloyd’s List.

The publication claims that the US State Department has flagged 37 entities involved in expanding Russia’s energy production and its future export capacity, including two related vessels, which have now been directly sanctioned.

Both ships are newly built floating units for the regasification of liquefied natural gas storage under the flag of Panama linked to Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 liquefied natural gas project, Lloyd’s List noted.

This is the vessel SAAM Fsu (IMO: 9915090) which is a 192,237 dwt floating LNG regasification unit registered in Hong Kong owned by Saam FSU Limited but beneficially owned by Russian State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK PJSC). SAAM Fsu, under the Panamanian flag, is based in Murmansk.

The other vessel is Koryak FSU (IMO: 9915105) under the flag of Panama, owned by the Hong Kong company GTLK Asia M2 Limited which is also owned by the Russian state transport leasing company (GTLK PJSC).

The US sanctions directly target Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 liquefied natural gas project, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted as a flagship strategic energy development for the country.

In Panama, the Maritime Administration and the Merchant Marine Administration, headed by Noriel Araúza and Rafael Cigarruista (respectively) They are silent about the new sanctions against Panamanian flag ships that are in conflict with Russia.

As for the Turkish companies sanctioned by the United States in this new round, they are Denkar Ship Construction and ID Shipping, Lloyd’s List reported.

The publication claims that Denkar Ship Construction is a Turkey-based ship repair company accused by the US Treasury Department of “materially assisting” the sanctioned Russian shipping company JSC Northern Shipping Company by providing ship repair services to three of its blocked ships: Inzhener Trubin ( IMO : 8502080), Engineer Vešnjakov (IMO: 8502107) and Captain Kokovin (IMO: 9279422).

Meanwhile, ID Shipping is said to be an Istanbul-based shipping agency operating in Tuzla and Yalova shipyards, which was sanctioned for arranging ship repair services to the sanctioned bulk carrier, Enisei (IMO: 9079169), associated with Russian defense operations.

The sanctions follow several recent US delegations to Turkey, where diplomats have repeatedly sought support from the government in Ankara to prevent Turkish companies from helping Russia evade sanctions, Lloyd’s List said in its report.