There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. Whether Lenin said this or not, the pace of geopolitical change is bewildering. The actions of the US in particular, are changing the world on an almost daily basis.
The extraordinary spat over Greenland where the US already had full and free access under its 1951 treaty is widely thought to have done more damage to the US reputation than tariffs. For Europe to deploy troops and consider sanctions against its strongest ally would not have been predicted by a rational observer a year ago.
Actions in the Gulf, have, whatever the aim, generated among other things a great deal of commercial disruption and significant concern in the Asian countries who are so reliant on Hormuz for their oil supply. Then there are the “backyard” issues around Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela with Venezuela having second order effects.
The seizure of the Marinera off Iceland was perhaps the most eye-opening for marine insurers. This was done ostensibly for a breach of sanctions raising the question of whether sanctions supersede international law. The vessel was in previously inviolable international waters and claiming and claimed by the Russian Flag.
Under UNCLOS Article 110, naval vessels are allowed to interdict stateless vessels. But the US has not ratified UNCLOS, which is possibly why the sanctions point was taken. Naturally underwriters are interested to understand the grounds for seizure as insurance depends on the law and is equally binary. There is either cover and exposure or there is not — owners do not want to be guessing.
If the Marinera (ex Bella 1) had not correctly changed flags, it could be assumed that the previous flag (Guyana) was in place. However, it seems this had been rescinded, meaning the vessel had no flag at all. If any vessel is really stateless it should be questioned at flag, port and government level how this is possible. It can be inferred that the vessel was at the least allowed into port A to load, was allowed to depart and was scheduled to call at port B where it would be allowed to unload.
That is a fair number of regulatory and convention fails by two or more countries and their Port State Control because the vessel would be uninsured. Then there was the chain of traders, charterers and owners involved in the voyage, knowing that no claims would be payable for hull, cargo or pollution.
It seems the shipping underworld is playing Russian Roulette with the law-abiding trading community and their coastlines. Sooner or later, one of the ageing vessels will cause a significant pollution affecting an innocent country and it will be down to the victim to clean up and mitigate the environmental damage. The marine world knows this, but the rest of the world appears to be either not listening or not interested.
