{"id":1299204,"date":"2025-09-29T21:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/shadow-fleet-under-fire-china-introduces-new-rules-for-tankers\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T21:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:47:11","slug":"shadow-fleet-under-fire-china-introduces-new-rules-for-tankers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/shadow-fleet-under-fire-china-introduces-new-rules-for-tankers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShadow Fleet\u201d under fire: China introduces new rules for tankers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In China, some operators of the port of Qingdao, which handles about a sixth of the country’s crude oil imports, have announced new rules for tankers carrying oil, including from Iran and other “sensitive” suppliers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Bloomberg<\/a> reports, the restrictions will take effect on November 1. In particular, “the berthing of tankers aged 31 years and older, as well as vessels that have changed their International Maritime Organization identification data or have invalid certificates is prohibited,” the document says. If a vessel is denied, it will not be able to enter the port for a year.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after the United States imposed sanctions on an operator at the Dongjiakou port in August for receiving Iranian oil that was being transported by a vessel under U.S. sanctions. This raised concerns that Washington’s new moves could further complicate China’s crude oil imports. Beijing has traditionally opposed such actions.<\/p>\n

The new document was signed by four operators of the Huangdao port, including Qingdao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal Co, a joint venture between the port authority and Sinopec Group. At the same time, sources said, other vessels will also be checked according to the risk system: older and more problematic ones may not be allowed to berth.<\/p>\n

The port of Qingdao is an important hub for Iranian oil to China – according to the analytical company Kpler, it has received about 300,000 barrels per day from Iran this year, despite the fact that official statistics do not show imports from this country since mid-2022.<\/p>\n

However, as Vortexa senior analyst Emma Lee notes, the impact of the new rules may be limited.<\/p>\n

“Qingdao Port has already lost market share in Shandong’s crude oil imports, falling from over 40% in 2020 to around 20% from 2024, as neighboring ports have expanded berths for ultra-large tankers. Its role in handling high-risk vessels is also relatively small compared to other ports in Shandong,” she said.<\/p>\n

Oil from Iran typically travels from the Persian Gulf to Malaysia or other transshipment points, where it is transferred from tanker to tanker on the high seas. The first leg of the journey often uses vessels already under US sanctions, before being transferred to a so-called “shadow fleet.”<\/p>\n

It should be noted that Australia previously joined another package of restrictions against Russia<\/a> . The price limit for Russian oil exports was lowered and sanctions against the so-called “shadow fleet” were strengthened.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, on Friday, September 12, the UK government announced another expansion of sanctions against Russia.<\/a> The updated list added 30 new names and organizations, and introduced 70 new restrictions.<\/p>\n

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Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In China, some operators of the port of Qingdao, which handles about a sixth of the country’s crude oil imports, have announced new rules for tankers carrying oil, including from Iran and other “sensitive” suppliers. As Bloomberg reports, the restrictions will take effect on November 1. In particular, “the berthing of tankers aged 31 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":1299199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76870,76871],"class_list":["post-1299204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1299199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}