EURO ASIA NEWS INTERNET NEWSPAPER

A PANAMA-flagged tanker engaged in Russian oil trades was hit by a Houthi uncrewed surface vessel in the early hours of Tuesday morning, marking the first attacks against shipping by the Iran-backed group since September 1.

After an initial flurry of four missiles narrowly missed Cordelia Moon (IMO: 9297888), a USV hit the port side ballast tank number 6, leaving the tanker taking in water.

While Cordelia Moon was thought to be the target, a second Liberia-flagged bulker that was nearby at the time of the attacks appears to have also been hit, suffering damage to its starboard side tanks, but quickly resuming its northbound passage towards the Suez Canal.

The targeting of Cordelia Moon — a tanker that has been regularly trading as part of the dark fleet* between Russia and India — appears to indicate the end to one of the Houthi’s longest lulls in attacks against shipping.

The attack comes two days after the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against what it said was Houthi infrastructure in western Yemen, in response to the Iran-backed group firing a surface-to-surface ballistic missile at central Israel on Saturday.

The selection of Cordelia Moon, later described by the Houthis as a “British oil ship”, appears to be yet another case of erroneous perceived national affiliation on the part of the Houthis.

The vessel is registered to Panamanian company Amber Shipping Incorporated, but is managed by an India-registered company Margao Marine Solutions. Margao are also the registered managers of the tanker Andromeda Star (IMO: 9402471), which was also attacked by Houthis in April having been described as a “British oil ship”.

That appears to be a reference to the vessel’s previous owners Union Maritime Limited, previously based in the UK, which had sold the ship to unknown interests in November 2023.

Cordelia Moon, which had private armed security on board at the time at the time of the attack, was transiting northbound towards the Suez Canal having left India’s port of Vadinar on September 24. The tanker has been regularly trading between Russia and India this year and is assessed by Lloyd’s List to be part of the so-called dark fleet.

The resumption of Houthi attacks comes amid growing concern among industry security officials and western politicians that Russia may be about to start supplying more sophisticated missiles, allowing much more accurate and longer range attacks against vessels.

Russian representatives and the Houthis have held at least two meetings in Tehran this year and further talks are planned, Reuters reported last week, citing two regional officials.

Those concerns were later confirmed by US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking, who conceded in an interview that “it’s something that we are alarmed about”.

The possible addition of super-sonic ‘Yakhont’ cruise missiles, which can be used against land targets and ships with a reported range of around 300 nautical miles, could significantly increase the risk for shipping in the region. It would also increase the risk of collateral damage and erroneous targeting at a greater range.

For the Houthis, the key challenge would be targeting at this range, according to BIMCO head of maritime security Jakob Larsen.

“It is believed much of the Houthi’s coastal radar capability has been destroyed by US and UK forces. However, targeting could potentially be conducted by surface ships relaying target information to the Houthi missile sites,” said Larsen.

Russian missiles are a real concern, according to several security sources contacted by Lloyd’s List.

To date, the various naval forces have been batting away old Russian technology used in Iranian improvised systems, but security and naval experts agree that the Russian weapons systems reportedly under discussion would be much harder for the current fleet of warships protecting shipping to deal with.

While naval sources are confident that they could intercept such missiles if fired at ships under their direct escort, there are serious concerns that more widespread attacks would be difficult to defend against with the current limited levels of naval assets in the region.

“This could be a game changer in the Red Sea,” said Control Risks director Cormac Mc Garry.

While the EU Navfor Aspides operation is doing a great job with the limited vessels it has, Mc Garry argues that it would struggle to offer escort protection to any increase in the current limited volumes of traffic.

“Long term, if the Russian missiles come into Houthi hands, that portends a geopolitical chess piece,” he said. “The Houthis have proved they can and will disrupt global shipping with old weapons. So the question is, how will it look when Russia asks them to do it with new weapons?”

* Lloyd’s List defines a tanker as part of the dark fleet if it is aged 15 years or over, anonymously owned and/or has a corporate structure designed to obfuscate beneficial ownership discovery, solely deployed in sanctioned oil trades, and engaged in one or more of the deceptive shipping practices outlined in US State Department guidance issued in May 2020. The figures exclude tankers tracked to government-controlled shipping entities such as Russia’s Sovcomflot, or Iran’s National Iranian Tanker Co, and those already sanctioned.

Download our explainer on the different risk profiles of the dark fleet here 

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PS:The mystery of dark fleet vessel Cordelia Moon IMO 9297888, attacked by the Houthi deepens
Lets see who the owners are…
Further to our earlier postings, just to make sense of things Vessel Cordelia Moon has been linked to the dark fleet by Lloyds List
1.⁠ ⁠Oktober
The mystery of dark fleet vessel Cordelia Moon IMO 9297888, attacked by the Houthi deepens
Further to my earlier postings, just to make sense of things Vessel Cordelia Moon has been linked to the dark fleet by Lloyds List
I decided to explore further the companies linked to Peter Evensen director of the apparent owners of Cordelia Moon, Amber Shipping Inc. IMO 5719479.
There is a person also called Peter Evensen, who retired in December 2016 as CEO of Teekay Tankers. I have no idea if they are the same person. However As previously mentioned the lawyers for Amber Shipping Inc are Panamanian firm Tapia, Linares Y Alfaro. A leaked 2019 email connects this firm to ASB Group, a Turkish firm, OFAC sanctioned for links to Iran. The email was in relation to an invoice for taxes due on a company based in Khazakstan. Amber Shipping and the other companies linked to Peter Evensen were all set up by Tapia, Linares Y Alfaro.
All companies are subsidiaries of the offshore division of Ultrapetrol Bahamas Ltd. Until around 2017 Ultrapetrol Bahamas Ltd was the largest shipping firm in Argentina Ultrapetrol delisted in 2017 from the US following Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is now trading and owned by asset managers Southern Cross Group, in use in 2 investment funds. Amber Shipping and the other companies linked to Peter Evensen are offshore vehicles used by Ultrapetrol to raise loans and refinance to the sums of hundreds of millions of dollars against 2 Offshore support vessels, UP Amber and UP Jade. On 11th January 2016 Amber Shipping is mentioned in an SEC filed bond issuance for a US$84 million loan facility, agreed with a number of banks.
The SEC document states Amber Shipping Inc was previously called Gracebay Shipping Inc By sheer coincidence there is another company with a very similar name called Grace Bay Shipping Inc (notice the gap between the first and second words) Of course Gracebay Shipping Inc and Grace Bay Shipping Inc are most likely totally unrelated and it is just a total coincidence. Grace Bay Shipping Inc is sanctioned due to links to the National Iranian Oil Corporation. Grace Bay Shipping Inc is an OFAC sanctioned entity. It was sanctioned on the 16th of January, 5 days after the bond issuance document was issued. So, in summary, we have a company Amber Shipping, linked to Iranian lifter Cordelia Moon. Its previous name was Gracebay Shipping Inc, a company one keystroke away from having the same name as a sanctioned Iranian firm. Gracebay Shipping Inc, changed its name shortly before its Iranian namesake was sanctioned.
Both Amber and Gracebay are linked to a previously bankrupt Argentinian shipping company Ultrapetrol. Ultrapetrol is owned by asset managers Southern Cross Group.