The government of Comoros has begun removing tankers from its international flag registry after revelations that sanctioned vessels were using its flag.
According to the EU’s Equasis database, 62 tankers, three liquefied petroleum gas carriers and one tug have been declared as falsely flying the Comoros flag.
Ships are categorized by the International Maritime Organization as falsely flagged once the relevant flag administration confirms that they are not legally registered under that flag.
Windward data show that, as of September 14, all but one of the vessels were sanctioned by either the US, EU or UK and were engaged in Russian, Iranian or Venezuelan trades.
The false-flag status for most of these ships was backdated to May, with additional designations in July and August.
Windward research in August indicated that Comoros accounted for 38% of sanctioned dark fleet tonnage above 20,000 dwt that was not falsely flagged, followed by Gambia, Cameroon and Sierra Leone. It also showed that 57% of sanctioned tonnage was either falsely flagged or had an unknown flag.
The Comoros government has signed agreements with companies to operate its registry. The Union of Comoros Maritime Administration has been operating via a Ukrainian office, with additional offices traced in India, UAE, Bulgaria and Greece since 2023.
Windward has also identified 12 fraudulent registries used by the dark fleet, including Angola, Aruba, Benin, Curacao, Eswatini, Guinea, Guyana, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, St Maarten and Timor Leste.
Equasis is an information system created by the European Commission and the French Maritime Administration. It provides access to safety-related information on ships and companies, supporting transparency in maritime transport.