French forces boarded the Cameroon-flagged tanker Deliver (150,284 DWT) off Sicily on June 23, with assistance from the Royal Navy and EUNAVFOR MED. The vessel was escorted to a French anchorage for further investigation under the jurisdiction of the Marseille public prosecutor.
Deliver had departed Russia’s Primorsk terminal and was bound for Singapore via the Suez Canal at the time of the boarding. French troops found the vessel’s flag documentation invalid.
The action marks the fifth shadow fleet tanker boarding carried out by France since September, and follows the UK’s first such operation against the tanker Smyrtos on June 14.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the boarding as evidence of “the determination of Europeans” to disrupt Russia’s war financing.
No crew injuries were reported. Investigation is ongoing under French jurisdiction.
