COLUMN | The Twelve Days of Christmas 2025: Seven investigators and the Dark Fleet, eight months and no US shipbuilding strategy, nine million for an 80-tonner in the Bourbon auction (part one of two) [Offshore Accounts]

Really? The yard claims on its website that it has more than 120 customers on a regular basis, including Femco, Rosatom, and sanctioned fishing company Norebo (a Murmansk company listed by the EU in the 17th sanction package as conducting espionage and, “activities that can facilitate future sabotage operations,” as per reports in the Barents Observer).

There appear to be no non-Russian companies listed apart from HAV, which I think we can agree seems to be a little unusual.

There’s no smoking gun here, but the body of circumstantial evidence seems, er, interesting.

HAV Shipping previously said it is all a big misunderstanding

In order to provide some context to the story, I wrote to HAV Shipping for their side, because certain aspects seem a little odd. I asked the following questions:

1. These two vessels have only Russian crews, which seems unusual in light of the sanctions on Russia in Norway and given the difficulties to make payments through the banking system to Russian individuals and companies. What crewing provider do you use in Russia, why, and what vetting do you undertake to ensure that the crew are not in the pay of Russian intelligence agencies?

2. Given that the researchers have provided credible circumstantial evidence to connect your ships to drone sightings in the North Sea in 2025, what additional measures have you taken to ensure that your vessels are not being used as platforms for drone operations?

3. How frequently do your managers and superintendents visit the vessels in person?

4. What is the reason for performing maintenance on the vessels in Russia, given the difficulties in obtaining spare parts and equipment in Russia, for foreigners to travel there, and the challenges of making international payments?

5. Your website states that the company is Norwegian-owned, but who are the ultimate beneficial owners of the holding company that controls HAV Shipping and HAV Chartering?

6. Who were the charterers of HAV Dolphin and HAV Snapper at the time of the incidents covered by the drone investigators?

7. What KYC have you put in place to ensure that the charterers are bona fide commercial entities and not individuals like Jan Marsalek or his associates?

If we receive an answer, we’ll happily publish it.