American personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
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