Overview
- The vessel will leave French territorial waters following a costly three-week immobilization off Marseille-Fos, officials said.
- Several million euros were transferred to the state asset recovery agency AGRASC for the flagging violation known as défaut de pavillon.
- The company has pledged to obtain a new flag promptly, while authorities withheld its declared nationality and tracking sites showed a Comoros flag.
- The tanker appears on UK, EU and U.S. sanctions lists—also under the name Carl—with ownership linked in U.S. Treasury records to Cube Ventures Shipping.
- French naval commandos boarded the ship on January 22 in international waters and escorted it to the Gulf of Fos as part of a wider clampdown on the Russian “ghost fleet,” which the EU counts at 598 vessels.