Tanker with Russian diesel to arrive in Cuba ‘in several days’

A tanker carrying Russian diesel is set to arrive in crisis-hit Cuba “in several days” after using deceptive maneuvers to reach the island, which is under a US fuel blockade, according to a maritime tracker.

“If or when the tanker arrives, this will be the first confirmed arrival of a refined products cargo at the island since early January,” maritime intelligence firm Windward reported online.

The firm had reported earlier that the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse had “likely” discharged around 190,000 barrels of Russian diesel in Cuba in early March, but it updated the webpage on Thursday to say it had not yet arrived in the island.

Cuba has been mired in an economic crisis and blackouts exacerbated by the sudden suspension of oil supplies from Venezuela in January after the United States ousted president Nicolas Maduro, a Cuba ally.

The country of 9.6 million was already battling the effects of the US fuel blockade against the island. The country was plunged in a nationwide blackout earlier this week.

The Sea Horse was loaded with diesel from another ship off Cyprus in early February, according to Windward.

It signaled its next destination as Havana before switching it to “‘Gibraltar for orders’ amid increased scrutiny of inbound cargoes to the island,” the firm said.

After sailing across the Atlantic in mid-to-late February, the Sea Horse stopped around 1,300 nautical miles from Cuban waters and began drifting at less than 1 knot, signaling it was “not under command”.

Windward said the ship engaged in other “deceptive shipping practices,” including switching off its automatic identification systems (AIS) — a GPS-type signal that commercial ships use to avoid collisions.

It has no Western insurance, “another indicator it is involved in sanctions circumvention,” according to Windward.

“AIS tracking suggest the Hong Kong-flagged tanker has now resumed its voyage for Cuba and is set is to deliver its cargo of 190,000 barrels of gasoil when it arrives in several days,” it said in the updated report.

A second ship, the sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, is also on its way to Cuba carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil, maritime analytics firm Kpler said on Wednesday.