Glossary
The words that appear on vessel pages and in the explainers, defined without jargon. Where a term has a precise legal meaning under one regime and a looser meaning in the press, both are given.
A
- Aframax
- A crude tanker of roughly 80,000 to 120,000 deadweight tons. Aframaxes carry much of the Baltic and Black Sea crude trade because they fit the draft limits of the loading ports there, which is why so many appear in Russia-related listings.
- AIS (Automatic Identification System)
- A VHF radio system that broadcasts a ship's identity, position, course and speed to nearby ships and shore stations. SOLAS requires most ships over 300 gross tons on international voyages to carry it and keep it running, with a narrow exception where the master judges that broadcasting would compromise the ship's safety. Because the signal is self-reported and unencrypted, it can be switched off or falsified.
- AIS spoofing
- Transmitting false AIS data, such as a fabricated position, identity or voyage, so that a vessel appears to be somewhere it is not. Detecting it usually requires comparing AIS with independent observation.
- Annex XLII
- The list of vessels in Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 that are banned from EU ports and from receiving a wide range of maritime services. It is the EU's main shadow-fleet instrument. Being on it is not an asset freeze, and these vessels do not appear in the EU's consolidated financial sanctions list.
- Article 3s
- The article of Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 that empowers the Council to list vessels in Annex XLII and sets out the grounds: transporting defence goods, carrying Russian oil while practising irregular and high-risk shipping practices, supporting Russia's energy sector, or acting against Ukraine's economic subsistence. See also: Annex XLII, Port ban
- Asset freeze
- A prohibition on dealing with a designated person's property and on making funds or economic resources available to them. Where a vessel is the designated property, the practical effect is that persons subject to the sanction cannot charter it, insure it, bunker it, or pay for its cargo.
- Attestation
- A signed statement passed along a shipping transaction certifying that the Russian oil being carried was bought at or below the price cap. Service providers such as insurers and shippers rely on attestations from parties closer to the trade to stay within the cap.
B
- Beneficial owner
- The person who ultimately owns or controls a company or vessel, as opposed to the registered owner named on paper. Sanctions lists rarely state beneficial ownership for ships, which is why this site records only the registered or stated owner and says which source stated it.
- Blending
- Mixing crude or products of different origins so that the resulting cargo is no longer documented as coming from a sanctioned source. See also: Ship-to-ship transfer (STS), Certificate of origin
- Blocking sanctions
- The US term for an asset freeze. Property of a person on the SDN List that comes within US jurisdiction is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from transacting with them.
- Bunkering
- Supplying fuel to a ship. Bunker suppliers are a common pressure point in sanctions enforcement because fuelling a listed vessel can itself be a prohibited service. See also: Services ban, Secondary sanctions
C
- Call sign
- A short alphanumeric radio identifier assigned to a ship by its flag state. It changes when the ship changes flag, which makes it a weaker identifier than the IMO number but a useful cross-check. See also: IMO number, MMSI
- CAPTA List
- OFAC's Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions List, which names foreign financial institutions subject to restrictions on their US correspondent accounts rather than full blocking. See also: SDN List, Non-SDN lists
- Certificate of origin
- A document stating where a cargo came from. Falsified certificates are a recognised evasion technique for disguising the origin of sanctioned crude, and authorities have issued specific advisories about them. See also: Blending, Attestation
- Charterer
- The party that hires a ship for a voyage or period. A charterer of a designated vessel can be exposed to sanctions even if it does not own the ship. See also: Secondary sanctions, Voyage charter
- Check digit
- The final digit of an IMO number, computed from the first six so that transcription errors can be detected. This site validates it on every record and never merges a hull whose check digit fails. See also: IMO number
- Classification society
- A private body that certifies a ship's hull, machinery and equipment against its own rules, which flag states rely on for statutory certification. Losing class is a serious matter: without it, insurance and port access become difficult.
D
- Dark activity
- A period when a vessel stops transmitting AIS. It is not by itself proof of wrongdoing: gaps happen through equipment failure, satellite coverage limits and legitimate safety decisions. Authorities treat repeated, long gaps in sensitive areas as a risk indicator, not a finding.
- Dark fleet
- Loose term for vessels that carry sanctioned oil while operating outside mainstream insurance, class and ownership norms. Some analysts reserve it for the most opaque tier and use 'grey fleet' for vessels that still touch the regulated system. See also: Shadow fleet, Grey fleet
- Deadweight tonnage (DWT)
- The total weight a ship can carry, including cargo, fuel, stores and crew, measured in metric tons. It describes carrying capacity, unlike gross tonnage, which measures enclosed volume. See also: DWT, Gross tonnage (GT)
- Deflagging
- The removal of a ship from a flag state's register. It can be a sanction in itself, a registry's own response to a designation, or a step in flag-hopping.
- Delisting
- Removal from a sanctions list. It can follow scrapping, a change of ownership, a successful challenge or a policy decision. A delisted vessel keeps its page on this site, with the removal date shown. See also: Designation, General licence
- Designation
- The formal act by which an authority adds a person, entity or vessel to a sanctions list, usually with a stated legal basis and a statement of reasons.
- DWT
- Abbreviation for deadweight tonnage, the weight a ship can carry. See also: Deadweight tonnage (DWT), Gross tonnage (GT)
E
- EOPL
- 'East of Port Klang', an anchorage area off Malaysia in the Strait of Malacca that has become a well-known location for ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned crude. See also: Ship-to-ship transfer (STS), Dark activity
- Equasis
- A free registered-access database of ship particulars, class and management history maintained with public backing. Used here for manual verification, never bulk collection. See also: GISIS, Classification society
F
- False flag
- A ship flying the colours of a state where it is not validly registered. OFAC prints such claims with a marker such as 'X False'; a vessel in that position may have no valid nationality at all. See also: Fraudulent registry, Stateless vessel
- Flag hopping
- Changing a ship's registry repeatedly, often shortly after a designation or a port-state detention, to complicate screening and to obtain fresh documentation.
- Flag of convenience
- A registry open to owners of any nationality, typically with low fees, light taxation and relaxed crewing rules. Using one is entirely lawful and most of the world fleet does it; the term describes the business model, not an accusation.
- Flag state
- The country in which a ship is registered and whose law governs it at sea. The flag state is responsible for surveys, certification, crewing standards and, in principle, enforcement.
- FoC
- Abbreviation for flag of convenience. See also: Flag of convenience
- Fraudulent registry
- An entity that issues ship registration documents without the authority of the state whose flag it purports to represent, or a register whose documents the purported state has publicly disowned. The IMO maintains a process for states to report these cases.
- FSF (EU financial sanctions file)
- The EU's consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to asset freezes, published as a downloadable file. Most EU-listed shadow-fleet vessels are not in it, because their listing is a port ban rather than an asset freeze. See also: Annex XLII, Asset freeze
G
- General licence
- An authorisation issued by a sanctions authority permitting a category of otherwise prohibited transactions, such as those needed to prevent an environmental disaster or to wind down existing business. It does not delist the target.
- GISIS
- The IMO's Global Integrated Shipping Information System, a registered-access database of ship particulars, companies and incident data. It is used here for manual verification only, never bulk collection. See also: IMO number, Equasis
- GL
- Abbreviation for general licence. See also: General licence
- Grey fleet
- Vessels that carry sanctioned cargoes while remaining partly inside the regulated system, for example keeping mainstream class or insurance. The boundary with the 'dark' fleet is a matter of definition, not law. See also: Dark fleet, Shadow fleet
- Gross tonnage (GT)
- A dimensionless measure of a ship's total enclosed volume, used to decide which regulations apply. It is not a weight, and it is not deadweight. See also: Deadweight tonnage (DWT), DWT
- GT
- Abbreviation for gross tonnage. See also: Gross tonnage (GT)
I
- IACS
- The International Association of Classification Societies, whose members class most of the world's tonnage. Vessels dropped by an IACS member sometimes reappear with a non-IACS society. See also: Classification society, P&I insurance
- IMO company number
- A seven-digit identifier for a registered owner or ISM manager, issued under the same scheme as ship numbers. Sanctions entries sometimes print it for companies, which is easy to mistake for a hull number. See also: IMO number, ISM manager
- IMO number
- A seven-digit ship identifier assigned once and never reused or reassigned, even when the vessel changes name, flag or owner. The last digit is a check digit. It is the spine of every vessel sanctions list and the only join key this site uses.
- Innocent passage
- The right of a foreign ship to pass through another state's territorial sea provided the passage is not prejudicial to peace, good order or security. It constrains how far coastal states can interfere with passing tankers. See also: UNCLOS, Flag state
- International Group of P&I Clubs
- The association of the mutual insurers that between them cover the great majority of world tonnage for third-party liabilities, with pooled and reinsured limits far above what smaller insurers offer. See also: P&I insurance
- ISM manager
- The company that has assumed responsibility for a ship's safety management under the International Safety Management Code. It is often not the registered owner, and it changes hands frequently after a designation.
L
- Layering
- Interposing successive companies, jurisdictions or transactions to obscure a link between an asset and the person who controls it. The shipping version is a chain of single-ship companies in several jurisdictions.
- Light displacement tonnage (LDT)
- The weight of a ship's own structure, used to price it for scrapping. It becomes relevant when a sanctioned vessel reaches the end of its life. See also: Deadweight tonnage (DWT), Scrapping
- Listing
- The appearance of a vessel on a sanctions list. This site records who listed it, on what date, under which program, and the authority's own stated reason. See also: Designation, Delisting
- Loitering
- A vessel remaining in one area at low speed without an apparent commercial reason. Analysts treat repeated loitering in known transfer areas as an indicator worth checking, not as evidence in itself. See also: Ship-to-ship transfer (STS), Dark activity
M
- MMSI
- Maritime Mobile Service Identity, a nine-digit number used by AIS and radio. It is assigned by the flag state and changes with the flag, so it identifies a transmission, not permanently a hull.
N
- Non-SDN lists
- OFAC lists that impose restrictions short of full blocking, such as the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List and the CAPTA List.
O
- OFAC
- The Office of Foreign Assets Control, the US Treasury body that administers US sanctions programs and publishes the SDN List.
- Official Journal (OJ)
- The Official Journal of the European Union, where EU regulations including sanctions packages are published and from which they take effect. See also: Sanctions package (EU), Annex XLII
- OFSI
- The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, part of HM Treasury, which implements UK financial sanctions and publishes the consolidated list. Ship designations themselves are published by the FCDO on the UK Sanctions List. See also: UK Sanctions List, Asset freeze
- Open register
- A ship registry that accepts owners regardless of nationality. Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the largest. See also: Flag of convenience, Flag state
- Operator
- The company that commercially operates a ship, which may differ from both the registered owner and the technical manager. Sanctions entries often name an owner or operator without distinguishing them. See also: Registered owner, ISM manager
- Ownership chain
- The sequence of companies between a hull and the person who ultimately benefits from it. In shipping it commonly runs: single-ship company, holding company, management company, commercial operator, each in a different jurisdiction.
P
- P&I insurance
- Protection and indemnity cover, the third-party liability insurance that pays for oil pollution, wreck removal and injury claims. Most mainstream cover is provided by the clubs of the International Group; vessels outside it may carry cover of uncertain value.
- Paris MoU
- The regional agreement coordinating port state control inspections in Europe and the North Atlantic, which publishes performance lists of flag states. See also: Port state control, Flag state
- Port agent
- The local company that arranges a ship's call: berth, pilots, stores, crew changes and paperwork. Agents are exposed to sanctions risk because their services are precisely what a port ban prohibits. See also: Services ban, Secondary sanctions
- Port ban
- A prohibition on a named vessel entering the ports of the sanctioning jurisdiction, sometimes with related bans on services. The EU's Annex XLII and the UK's shipping sanctions work this way.
- Port state control
- Inspection of foreign ships in national ports to verify condition, certification and crewing, coordinated through regional agreements such as the Paris MoU. A port state can detain a substandard ship regardless of sanctions. See also: Flag state, Classification society
- Press release (Treasury)
- The narrative announcement accompanying a US designation. It carries the reasoning that the SDN List file itself omits, which is why this site links it from the timeline where one exists. See also: Recent Actions, OFAC
- Price cap
- The G7 and allied measure permitting Western maritime services for Russian oil only where the oil is sold at or below a set price. It is enforced through attestations passed along the transaction chain rather than through a ban on the trade itself.
R
- Recent Actions
- OFAC's dated stream of notices announcing designations, removals, general licences and list updates. It is where designation dates and the reasons behind them are published; the SDN file alone does not carry the reasons.
- Registered owner
- The company named on a ship's registry entry as its owner. It is frequently a single-purpose company that owns nothing else.
S
- Sanctions package (EU)
- A bundle of EU sanctions measures adopted together and numbered in sequence. Each package amends existing regulations, which is why an EU vessel listing is cited to a package as well as to Regulation 833/2014. See also: Annex XLII, Official Journal (OJ)
- Scrapping
- Dismantling a ship for its steel. A vessel sold for scrap is often removed from sanctions lists afterwards, which is one of the ordinary reasons for a delisting. See also: Delisting, Light displacement tonnage (LDT)
- SDN List
- OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Vessels appear on it with their IMO number, flag, type and tonnage, and their property interests are blocked.
- Secondary sanctions
- Measures that expose non-US persons to US sanctions for dealing with certain designated targets, even where no US nexus exists. Their practical effect is to make banks, insurers and ports outside the US cautious about listed vessels. See also: Blocking sanctions, Bunkering
- Seizure
- The taking of a vessel or its cargo by a state's authorities. Grounds vary: sanctions enforcement, customs, safety, or the law of the sea, and each has its own limits. See also: UNCLOS, Port state control
- Services ban
- A prohibition on providing specified services to a vessel or trade, such as insurance, brokering, flagging, crewing, bunkering or technical assistance. It is the mechanism behind both the price cap and much of the EU's vessel regime.
- Shadow fleet
- The loosely defined set of tankers and other vessels that carry sanctioned oil and cargoes outside mainstream ownership, insurance and class arrangements. There is no legal definition and no official register, which is why published counts differ.
- Ship-to-ship transfer (STS)
- Moving cargo between two vessels at sea or at anchor. It is a routine commercial operation, and also the standard method for separating a cargo from its origin, which is why unreported STS operations feature in sanctions advisories.
- Single-ship company (SPV)
- A company incorporated to own exactly one vessel, ring-fencing liability and making ownership harder to trace. It is a normal shipping practice as well as a sanctions-evasion technique.
- SOLAS
- The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, the principal treaty on ship safety. It carries the requirement to fit and operate AIS and underpins much of the certification regime.
- Specific licence
- A case-by-case authorisation from a sanctions authority permitting a particular transaction that would otherwise be prohibited. See also: General licence
- SSI List
- OFAC's Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List, which imposes targeted restrictions on named entities in certain sectors of the Russian economy rather than full blocking. See also: Non-SDN lists, SDN List
- Stateless vessel
- A ship without valid nationality, including one flying two or more flags of convenience as it suits. Under the law of the sea, warships of any state may board a vessel reasonably suspected of being without nationality.
- Statement of reasons
- The authority's own explanation of why a target was listed. The UK publishes one for each designation; the EU prints grounds in the annex; OFAC's reasoning appears in press releases rather than the list file. See also: Designation, Recent Actions
- STS
- Abbreviation for ship-to-ship transfer. See also: Ship-to-ship transfer (STS)
T
- Tiered attestation model
- The structure of price-cap compliance in which parties with direct access to price information provide attestations to those without it, each tier relying on the one below. See also: Attestation, Price cap
- Trade-based money laundering
- Moving value through trade transactions by misstating price, quantity or quality of goods. Sanctioned oil sales and the shipping services around them can overlap with it. See also: Layering, Single-ship company (SPV)
U
- UK Sanctions List
- The FCDO's published list of everyone and everything designated under UK sanctions regulations, including ships specified for shipping sanctions.
- UNCLOS
- The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which sets out the rights of flag states and coastal states, freedom of navigation, and the narrow grounds on which a warship may board a foreign vessel on the high seas.
V
- VLCC
- Very Large Crude Carrier, a tanker of roughly 200,000 to 320,000 deadweight tons. VLCCs are the workhorses of long-haul crude routes and of floating storage.
- Voyage charter
- A contract to carry a cargo between named ports for a freight rate, as opposed to hiring the ship for a period. The charter type affects who is exposed when a vessel is designated. See also: Charterer
W
- War & Sanctions portal
- Ukraine's government catalogue of vessels it associates with sanctioned trades. It is government-published but not a legal designation, so this site badges it separately and excludes it from listing counts. See also: Shadow fleet, Designation
- Wind-down period
- A window after a designation during which specified existing transactions may be completed, usually authorised by a general licence. See also: General licence, Delisting