In waters off the coast of the British Isles, a tanker carrying sanctioned Russian oil sails drifts slowly towards a fishing vessel. The two ships briefly cross paths, before away sailing away from each other once more.
To the naked eye, nothing has changed. But to authorities tracking international shipping, the vessels have switched identities. The tanker appears to be an innocent fishing vessel, and vice versa.
These manoeuvres, known as “handshakes”, are among the methods being used by Russia’s “shadow fleet” tankers to disguise their locations and avoid seizure by the UK and European nations.
Shorts
The aim is to manipulate automatic identification system (AIS) tracking, which sends live information on vessels’ identity, port of origin, position and course to maritime authorities – particularly when passing through geographical choke points like the English Channel, where shadow tankers are at the greatest risk of interception.
