Russia-connected 'shadow fleet' tanker escorted to Norwegian Arctic port

The brand new tanker that over the past couple of days has sailed along the Norwegian coast with course for Murmansk on Wednesday afternoon sailed into the Porsanger Fjord towards the North Cape port in Honningsvåg.

The 295 meter long carrier was subsequently escorted into the smaller Sarnes Fjord. Involved in the operation were two pilot boats from the nearby port.

In the area is also Norwegian coast guard ship KV Jarl, but this vessel is not involved in the escort. The KV Jarl has been in the area for two days in connection with other issues, spokesperson Jonny Karlsen says in a comment to the Barents Observer.

Local port authorities say to the Barents Observer that they have no information about the North Light and the reason for its sailing into the Norwegian fjord. It is not clear whether the ship will moor in the area.

Arve Dimmen, Department Director at the Norwegian Coastal Administration says in a comment to the Barents Observer that the ship is in the area to do a crew change. The permission expired on Thursday 30 January at 12 am, he says. He explains that the crew change has been approved by the Coastal Administration, as well as the Norwegian Defence. 

As reported by the Barents Observer, the North Light, as well as its sister ship North Moon are likely to be part of the so-called 'shadow fleet' that brings sanctioned Russian goods to international markets.

Both ships are on their maiden voyage. They left the South Korean Okvo port in November 2024. This week, they have been sailing along the Norwegian coast with course for Russian waters.

The vessels are built at Hanwha Ocean, the shipyard that previously was known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). They are 295 metres long, 46 metres wide and have a summer deadweight capacity of 94,000 tonnes. Both sail under the flag of Singapore.

Judging from information from MarineTraffic, they are on their way to Murmansk. They might also sail further east to the Ob Bay where Russia has two major LNG projects, the Yamal LNG and the Arctic LNG 2. The latter is heavily sanctioned by US and EU authorities, and all project infrastructure, ships and operations are in a state of paralysis.

Correction: this article first incorrectly claimed that a Norwegian police boat was involved in escort. The boat did not belong to the police, but was part of the coast guard presence in the area. Coast Guard vessel KV Jarl was not in the area because of the LNG carrier.