‘Zombie’ tanker Jaya departs China for Singapore amid signs of unsuccessful discharge

THE US-sanctioned very large crude carrier Jaya (IMO: 9410387), recently exposed by Lloyd’s List for assuming the identity of a scrapped vessel, is now heading towards Singapore after spending about 10 days in waters near Dalian, China.

Now renamed Quasar, the vessel is using the IMO number of Sos(IMO: 9233791), which was dismantled in 2022. According to vessel-tracking data, its AIS draught readings suggest it was unable to discharge its cargo during this latest trip to China.

That said, there have been cases where vessels do not update their draught data after discharging cargo, as this information is entered manually by the crew.

According to Vortexa, Quasar received around 1.8m barrels of Iranian crude via a ship-to-ship transfer with a National Iranian Tanker Co vessel offshore Singapore on May 8.

Before continuing up China’s coast, the vessel lingered near Dongjiakou between May 23-27. Lloyd’s List understands it attempted to call at the port with an estimated arrival on May 24, declaring the cargo as Iraqi.

However, satellite imagery did not capture the vessel alongside at Dongjiakou during this period, nor later at the port of Dalian.

The newest tracking data shows the vessel has since sailed to waters near China’s Zhejiang province, with its AIS destination now set as Singapore, after departing Dalian on June 10.

On its previous voyage to China in April, Quasar successfully discharged about 2m barrels of Iranian crude at Dongjiakou.

That cargo was transferred from another NITC tanker in the Gulf of Oman around March 12, after which Jaya adopted the International Maritime Organization number of the scrapped Sos and later changed its name to Quasar.

Over the past three months, Jaya has broadcast false positions and identities, appearing as multiple vessels and complicating tracking by authorities and analysts.

This highlights the growing sophistication of sanctions evasion tactics adopted by an increasing number of ships deployed on sensitive trade routes.

A Lloyd’s List analysis in January found there were close to 30 ‘zombie’ vessels of various types that use scrapped IMO numbers, however that figure has steadily grown over recent months.

According TankerTrackers.com co-founder Samir Madani there are more than 50 tankers using fake identities.

Meanwhile, China’s oil trade and related companies are facing increasing pressure from the US. Earlier this year, three private Chinese refineries and three terminal operators were added to Washington’s sanctions list for allegedly accepting Iranian crude.

Shandong Port Group, which manages Dongjiakou and several other major nearby ports, issued a ban in January on servicing sanctioned vessels, especially those blacklisted by the US.