A shadow fleet of almost 1,000 ageing tankers – totalling 18.5 percent of global capacity – has been used since 2022 to dodge Western oil sanctions. These flag-hopping vessels with opaque ownership and frequent name changes ferry crude oil to Chinese "teapot" refineries from states including Russia, Venezuela and Iran.
On 1 October, 2025, French military personnel boarded the rust-streaked tanker Boracay just off the Bay of Biscay, after the captain, a Chinese national commanding a largely Chinese crew, ignored repeated orders to stop.
