India's ship safety certifier is taking a tougher stance on vessels involved in evading international trade sanctions, by cancelling the certification of more than 200 tankers and other ships since 2023, the head of the agency told Reuters.
The Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) is among the world's leading ship certifiers and removal from its list is likely to complicate a vessel's ability to secure insurance and potentially access ports.
Since 2023, Mumbai-based IRClass has de-classed 235 ships from its registry, mainly oil tankers and also a few gas carriers, the non-profit organisation's Executive Chairman Arun Sharma said.
He said the registry previously had a number of ships that were hit with Western sanctions, but it now had "a very comprehensive" sanctions policy.
"From almost 2023 onwards, we are not taking any ships which have any sanctions, whether it is US or European or UK sanctions," Sharma said, referring to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and on Iran over its nuclear programme and other activities.
IRClass' move is a sign of India taking a different stance to China, which last month ordered firms not to comply with US sanctions on five Chinese refiners over purchases of Iranian oil.
India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, last month also declined Russia’s offer to sell it liquefied natural gas subject to US sanctions.
"We have released almost about 13 million (gross) tons of tonnage which were sanctioned vessels, but could not satisfactorily explain to us why there was a sanction. So, there was a huge amount of tonnage which we de-classed," Sharma said of the cancelled cover.
Not certifying ships, however, also risks adding to the so-called "shadow fleet" of ships that have no known insurance or compliance with environmental safety standards.
Hundreds of such ships have not only helped Iran and Russia circumvent sanctions, but have also posed a threat of oil spills and fuel leaks in busy sea lanes.
IRClass and other top shipping certifiers provide services including the safety checks that are necessary for securing entry to port and services such as insurance.
Sharma said that while IRClass would not take any ships owned by Iranian or Russian entities, there were limitations to what IRClass was able to determine about the cargo carried.
"Today, we may take in a ship which is as per the registry, non-Russian, non-Iranian, and tomorrow (the vessel) carries oil from Iran to somewhere...we don't have any control on that."
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Susan Fenton)
