The French authorities have detained and are now investigating the tanker Boracay, an aframax, which is part of the so-called shadow fleet and has been linked to last week’s drone attack on Copenhagen Airport.
The ship, which was on its way with Russian crude oil to Asia, was detained near Saint-Nazaire over the weekend. On the evening of September 22, when the drones entered the airspace and paralyzed Copenhagen Airport for hours, Boracay was within 70 nautical miles, according to data from the analysis firm Windward.
Ten hours earlier, the ship had changed its name from Pushpa to Boracay and simultaneously changed its flag from Malawi to Benin – a flag registry that, according to Clarksons Research, has grown by more than 400 percent this year.
“An investigation is underway because there is suspicion of illegal activity on the ship. The suspicion led to a report to the public prosecutor’s office in Brest, which is now investigating the case,” says Guillaume Le Rasle, who is the spokesperson for the French Navy in the Atlantic, to TV 2.
Boracay, which was built in 2007, has been sailing to Russia since November 2022, after becoming part of the shadow fleet via Gatik Ship Management, writes Splash.
Boracay is subject to sanctions from both the EU and the United Kingdom and was earlier this year detained by Estonian authorities for sailing without a valid flag.
Since entering the shadow fleet, Boracay has had four registered owners, five different names, and sailed under seven different flags, information from Windward shows.
-emte
