Ukraine detains vessel for Sevastopol export

UKRAINIAN authorities have detained a Tanzania-flagged general cargoship and its crew in the Danube river, alleging it exported wheat from Russian-occupied Crimea.

The vessel, which is not named in the statements made by the prosecutor’s office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol City, and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), reportedly transported more than 4,600 tonnes of wheat from Sevastopol in November 2024.

Lloyd’s List understands the ship to be general cargoship Anka (IMO: 9365415).

Anka disabled its Automatic Identification System data while in the Black Sea from October 30 to November 18, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence vessel-tracking data.

Although the positional data suggests Anka went dark north of the Kerch Strait, this data has been manipulated by the third-party interference that is rampant in the area.

The ship was more than likely in the Kavkaz ship-to-ship area south of the Kerch Strait.

The disabling of AIS for long periods of time in this area is consistent with the behaviour of other Crimea callers.

Anka was flying the flag of Mongolia during its October/November 2024 voyage to the Black Sea. It reflagged under Tanzania on April 4.

Ukrainian authorities stopped Anka after it loaded at the Moldovan port of Giurgiulesti when it was sailing through the Danube river towards the Black Sea.

AIS data shows the ship departing Giurgiulesti on April 19. It anchors shortly afterwards near Ukraine’s Reni port.

The operation to detain Anka was carried out by the SBU and the State Border Guard Service.

The Danube is a relatively easy area for Ukrainian officials to interdict ships, according to Yörük Işık, a geopolitical analyst from the Istanbul- based consultancy Bosphorus Observer.

The most recent vessel to be detained on the same grounds was also stopped in the Danube river.

This was the Cameroon-flagged general cargoship Usko Mfu (IMO: 7919781), which was arrested in July 2024.

“Despite the rapidly changing international political environment, the efforts of the Crimean Prosecutor’s office to bring to justice the vessels, crews and owners that violate Ukraine’s borders and carry illicit cargo has not slowed down, and their desire to litigate the ships and crews has not stopped,” Işık said.

Ukraine has routinely decried grain theft from the occupied territories and has called for international government support to tackle what it says is an expanding operation.

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Lloyd's List Daily Briefing 29 April 2025