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During a ceremony in Singapore, Stena Bulk has officially registered the 'Stena Sunrise' under the Swedish flag. According to the shipping company, this is the first time in modern times that a Suezmax tanker is operated with a Swedish registration. The ceremony on board was attended by Sweden's ambassador to Singapore, Anders Sjöberg, together with Johan Zander, head of Stena Bulk Singapore. Together they carried out the formal handover of the Swedish flag to the crew. Erik Hånell, CEO of Stena Bulk stated; " We are proud that Stena Sunrise is now officially sailing under the Swedish flag and that we were able to celebrate this in Singapore. This milestone has been made possible thanks to strong cooperation with Swedish authorities and unions". Swedish shipyards have built several large crude oil tankers during the 1970s and 1980s, but that these were usually delivered under foreign flags. In recent decades, Sweden has been virtually invisible in the largest tanker segments. Exceptions such as TT 'Nanny' (ULCC, 1978–1984) and 'Vanadis' (VLCC, early 1990s) have been few and temporary. With the 'Stena Sunrise', Sweden is once again represented in the Suezmax segment. The 'Stena Sunrise' is the first of five Suezmax vessels that Stena Bulk plans to register in the Swedish ship register. In the coming months, the 'Stena Superior', 'Stena Suede', 'Stena Surprise' and 'Stena Sunshine' are also expected to be reflagged, as commercial and operational schedules allow. Report with photos: https://www.sjofartstidningen.se/stena-sunrise-fick-svensk-flagg-i-singapore/

Campaigners have warned that the 'Seferis', destined for the port of Kwinana, was carrying Russian oil despite sanctions put in place because of the Ukraine war. The 'Seferis' left Sitka two weeks ago full of oil from the Jamnagar refinery, and it is due to arrive in the outer-Perth suburb of Kwinana on July 27 at 4 a.m. The Jamnagar refinery is notoriously fed by Russian crude oil, with as much as 55 per cent of their 2025 stock coming from the European pariah. The alarm has been raised about a “loophole” that allows Russian oil to be bought and sold in Australia, with local campaigners and parliamentarians calling for immediate action. The Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie raised the issue in Question Time on July 25: “In July, two vessels reportedly docked in Botany Bay, with some 175,000 tonnes of petrol from the Jamnagar refinery in India, which uses up to 55 per cent Russian oil. So these vessels effectively carry some 90,000 tonnes of Russian-sourced petrol, paid for by Australians, which will help fund Putin’s war in Ukraine.” The loophole has recently been closed in the European Union, which has banned the importation of petroleum products refined form Russian crude oil in its 18th sanctions package against Russia. The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations has urged Australia to take similar action. Since February 2023, Australia has imported an estimated $3.7bn worth of Russian crude, as a component in refined petroleum products from Indian refineries – sending around $1.8bn in tax revenue to the Kremlin.

The US-sanctioned 'Bluebell' was now spoofing its position in Indonesia’s territorial waters. The tanker sailed into the area on July 16, 2025, indicating the navigational status as “at anchor” and then began location (GNSS) manipulation to obfuscate its true location. It then went dark on July 22, and stopped AIS transmittings in one of the world’s busiest maritime chokepoints, underscoring the escalating safety and maritime security risks to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia from sanctioned and high-risk tankers loitering in waters near the Riau archipelago. The real location of the tanker was unknown. The 'Bluebell', formerly known as 'Cross Ocean', had spent a month in this area, where about 80 Iran and Russia-trading tankers assemble for floating storage and unregulated STS transfers of Western-sanctioned oil, often under dangerous conditions. The ships form part of an inefficient logistics network of dark fleet tankers that ship crude cargoes from Russia, Iran and Venezuela via multiple STS transfers in international waters to obscure the destination and origin. Dozens are falsely flagged like the 'Bluebell', thus invalidating insurance and certificates of safety and seaworthiness. The 'Bluebell' is one of some 1900 ships identified as part of the dark fleet, and among hundreds of vessels now transmitting a false flag, with 40% of Iran-trading tankers and 30% of Russia trading tankers in the dark fleet now using fraudulent registries, signaling false flags such as Curaçao in this case, or whose flag status is unknown. Fraudulent registries linked to these trades by the IMO include Aruba, Benin, Curaçao, Guinea, Guyana, Eswatini, Malawi, Timor-Leste, and St Maarten. Other ships falsely transmit they are flagged with legitimate registries, posing a significant threat to the regulatory integrity of global seaborne trade and undermines the foundations of the world’s maritime economic system.

Due to essential maintenance on the 'Lochnevis', operating on the route Mallaig-Small Isles on the evening of July 31, the scheduled sailings on Aug 1 were announced to be liable to disruption or cancelation at short notice by the operator CalMac.

Early on July 30, the 'Sefens', loaded with gasoline likely refined from Russian stock, has docked at the Kwinana terminal, approximately 25 miles south of Perth, to offload its cargo. The tanker had departed from the Jamnagar refinery on July 11. Protestors called for the vessel to be turned away, but it was pointed out that the vessel was not in violation of the sanctions. It provided legitimate documentation that it had been loaded in India, and it was admitted that it was nearly impossible to determine the source of the stock. Australia has imposed broad sanctions on Russia since the start of its war against Ukraine. For the first time, it also recently imposed sanctions on shadow fleet tankers, pouncing on reports that nearly 50 % of the feedstock going into Jamnagar was coming from Russia., and said that Australia must move immediately to stop these imports. Australia has imported approximately US$650 million of oil products from India in the first four months of 2025. Most of it was likely made from Russian stock. About 90 % of Australia’s imports from India come from the Jamnagar refinery. Under the pressure building on intermediaries, India’s state refineries have all suspended purchases of Russian oil this week, scrambling to find alternative sources, primarily in the Middle East. However, the state refineries are not the largest buyers, which remain the private companies in India, including Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy. After the EU sanctions against Nayara, there have been multiple reports of tankers diverting and companies demanding that their contracts be canceled due to the sanctions.