Barbados committed to de-flag 46 ships from its registry last year due to imposed sanctions by the United Kingdom (UK). The figure is said to be the largest single act of enforcement by a Caribbean state against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.
The United States (US) and UK sanctioned the vessels as part of a coordinated economic warfare campaign designed to deal with the financial revenues funding Russia’s war in Ukraine, and to dismantle illicit oil trading networks, operated by other blacklisted nations such as Iran and Venezuela.
Panama was the only other country to deregister a large amount of these ships when it de-flagged 68 last year.
The Barbados Maritime Ship Registry (BMSR), which operates out of the UK, yesterday confirmed that 21 ships so far have been formally actioned under a zero-tolerance sanctions policy introduced in July last year. Sources said several Russian vessels which were already penalised turned to Barbados for new registration as a switch from conventional registries. This allowed them to fly the Barbados Flag.
Flag-hopping
Among the ships accused of flag-hopping to Barbados after being sanctioned by international authorities due to their involvement in illicit “shadow fleet” or “ghost fleet” activities were:
• Saint Light (formerly Young Yong), which was found to be operating as part of an illicit maritime network engaged in deceptive shipping practices to transport sanctioned Iranian crude oil;
• Yehope, a crude oil tanker which actively violated G7 and European Union oil embargoes and price cap restrictions; and
• Road, which was linked to a US-sanctioned management company involved in the illicit sale and movement of Iranian crude.
When contacted yesterday, Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill strongly defended the registry’s rapid growth as the product of performance, not lax standards.
In a detailed response to questions from the MIDWEEK NATION, he disclosed that since the registry’s sanctions policy was formalised in Marine Circular MC 052025 on July 1, 2025, 21 vessels have been actioned – 20 deleted from the register and one under formal notice of deletion effective October 16, 2026. Fourteen of the actioned vessels were designated by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and seven by the UK and/or the European Union (EU).
Gooding-Edghill emphasised that none of the deregistrations arose from criminal activity.
“Every deregistration referred to in the enquiry arose from international sanctions designations. None related to drug trafficking, smuggling or other criminal activity on the part of the vessel.”
The minister outlined the operational mechanics of the sanctions policy, which he said applied before registration and continuously afterwards. He confirmed that the BMSR does not accept, and will not retain, vessels whose beneficial owners, operators or associated parties are sanctioned by the UN Security Council, the EU, the UK or OFAC.
“Barbados has a zerotolerance policy on sanctions. Every application is screened before registration, and every registered vessel is monitored for as long as it flies our flag. If a vessel or its owners are designated under United Nations, UK, EU or US sanctions, we serve formal notice and delete the vessel from the register. Since this policy was formalised in July 2025, 21 vessels have been actioned. Also, action continues to be taken in respect of any sanctioned vessels. These removals show the system working as it should.”
Penalty
Every vessel deleted for sanctions reasons has to surrender an administrative penalty of US$25 000 (BDS$50 000).
Gooding-Edghill also pushed back against any suggestion that the registry’s expansion reflects a relaxation of standards as he revealed the operational standing of the BMSR.
The registry is the 27th largest in the world and third largest in the Caribbean. It holds White List status under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control and is accredited to ISO 9001:2015.
As of September 30 this year, the fleet stood at 479 vessels and 9 513 539 gross tonnes, with oversight exercised through 23 recognised organisations, 138 appointed nautical inspectors and 41 regional registrars.
In the third quarter of 2026 alone, the registry carried out 776 flag state inspections, including pre-registration and initial inspections of incoming tonnage.
The growth figures, the minister said, tell a story of a registry expanding on the back of performance rather than permissive entry.
He pointed out that even though these ships fly the Barbados Flag, they were not required to port or even come here.
“That is the case for every international registry . . . . Our obligation as a flag state is to exercise effective control over our ships wherever they are,” he stated.
International reporting by Lloyd’s List has documented how Barbados became a flag of last resort for sanctioned tonnage expelled from other registries.
According to Lloyd’s List intelligence data, 87 tankers of over 20 000 deadweight tonnes were flagged with Barbados by late 2024, comprising 57 per cent of the registry’s total tonnage.
Of those 87 vessels, 25 were beneficially owned by Russian state-controlled shipowner Sovcomflot, and another 37 appeared on Lloyd’s List’s dark fleet roster of 667 tankers.
By November 2024, the registry was flagging 30 of the 73 tankers the UK had designated over the previous five months for breaching sanctions on Russia. Lloyd’s List reported that all but five of those 30 tankers were beneficially owned by Sovcomflot, and that most were flagged by Barbados only after UK or EU sanctions were imposed, and the ships had been expelled from other registries.
Looking forward, Gooding-Edghill said Government policy is for the BMSR to continue to grow, but only with quality tonnage and in full compliance with the Merchant Shipping Act, 2024.
He added that the BMSR is also procuring a new integrated registry management platform to strengthen screening, records and reporting. (MB)