Reporter’s Notebook: How to Investigate Shadow Fleets

In the world of maritime trade, some ships play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. They rapidly change flags, shift ownership, and even cut their tracking systems mid-voyage. These “dark fleet” tactics are often employed by vessels involved in nefarious activities such as sanctions evasion, arms trafficking or illegal fishing.

At first sight, the trail of such ships can appear hard to follow. Yet the evidence is often still there, scattered across open sources. With perseverance, it can be possible to uncover more information about who is behind these shadowy vessels.

As an example, we’ll walk you through some of the OSINT resources we consulted to investigate three Syrian ships which were sanctioned by the European Union for allegedly helping Russia transport grain stolen from occupied territory in Ukraine. (You can read our full investigation here.)

Red Flags
Our case began with a curious detail: Leaked documents obtained by reporters revealed that multimillion-dollar ships which once belonged to the Syrian government had been sold for just $1 each in 2023.

After the sale — to an opaque offshore firm in the Seychelles — the ships began to shed their old identities. They repeatedly changed names, and at times went dark by disabling the transmitters that commercial vessels are required to keep on to broadcast their locations.

This behavior caught our attention, as did another red flag, so to speak: The vessels were frequently changing their countries of registration, and flying what are known as flags of convenience. This refers to flags from jurisdictions that allow ship owners to register their vessels far from home, often with minimal oversight, low taxes, and fast, easy registration. While legal, these registries have been criticized by regulatory agencies and rights groups for lowering labor and safety standards as they compete to attract shipowners.

Article Credit: https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/practical-osint-for-investigating-shadow-fleets