Thread by @SeaLightFound

🚨 SUSPICIOUS VESSEL DOCKED IN 🇹🇼#TAIWAN: Meet the LONG AN — a ship currently in Tainan Port with some serious red flags.
🛑1/Firstly, @StarboardIntel notes it has been identified by the International Maritime Organization as a "false flag" ship.
[🧵THREAD 1/5]

🛑2/Looking deeper, the IMO shows it as being the Sansha Maru No.81 (likely original name) but registered with a false 🇨🇼Curacao flag. It is now broadcasting a 🇹🇿Tanzanian flag (a prob reaction to the IMO's designation) though it's still not properly registered under any flag. [🧵2/5]

🛑3/ The ship's owner, "LIMEI Y", is a single-ship shell company registered in 🇰🇳St. Kitts & Nevis, full name Yao Limei. The ship also shows up as having no protection & indemnity insurance -- a "fleet" comprised of exactly one ship with no accountability structure. [🧵3/5]

🛑4/In 18 months of AIS tracking the LONG AN called at exactly 2 ports — both in Taiwan (Kaohsiung & Tainan). Legitimate cargo ships are paid to carry cargo from one port to another as efficiently as possible, but this ship's voyages always seem to end in the middle of the ocean somewhere. It has also been "dark" for nearly 30% of its time operating around #Taiwan, with its automatic identification system (AIS) safety broadcasts switched off. [🧵4/5]

🛑5/The LONG AN data suggest illicit ship-to-ship transfers at sea. It has logged 1,213 draught changes while calling at only 2 ports in 18 months. While it has logged zero encounters with other ships, it was AIS-dark almost a third of the time. [🧵5/5]
lloydslistintelligence.com/thought-leader…