First Sanctioned Ship Gets Scrapped in Watershed for Dark Fleet

By Weilun Soon

Feb 28, 2025, (Bloomberg) –An aging oil tanker sanctioned by the US is being taken apart in an Indian scrapyard, a potential watershed moment for the so-called dark fleet in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.

Nolan, a Suezmax vessel built in 1998, is in Alang, a major ship-breaking center in Gujarat in western India. It was sanctioned in 2019 for carrying Iranian oil, and was previously one of hundreds of blacklisted tankers that can still be found plying shipping lanes or idling in oceans across the world, posing risks to maritime and environmental safety.

Many of these ships are far older than the regular fleet, yet they’ve not been scrapped due to demand to transport Russian and Iranian oil, and also because scrapyards and cash buyers are reluctant to become involved for fear of the reputational and economic repercussions.

Now, several years of sluggish business have changed the way shipbrokers and scrapyard owners see the fleet and the opportunities it presents. Washington’s targeting of these vessels helping Moscow and Tehran in recent months have caused some ships such as Nolan to sit idle at sea after being blacklisted, prompting their owners to consider scrapping them for some monetary returns. 

At the same time, ship-breaking companies are nervous about taking sanctioned vessels for demolition, for fear of being penalized. Some have tried to seek clarification fro…