Fresh EU action against Russia’s shadow fleet raises new questions over Zulu-branded shipping companies, their Azerbaijani management links, a Marshall Islands vessel owner, and former Palmali personnel.
EUASIA NEWS INVESTIGATION
The European Union’s latest sanctions against Russia’s “shadow fleet” have brought renewed attention to a web of shipping managers, vessel owners and offshore corporate structures operating across the UAE, Europe and other jurisdictions.
On 23 July 2026, the European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia, adding another 41 vessels to restrictions targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet. The Council said 632 vessels had already been sanctioned before the latest additions. The measures target non-EU vessels accused of circumventing the oil price cap, supporting Russia’s energy sector, carrying military equipment or transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.
Against that background, one shipping name deserves particular scrutiny: Zulu.
A company called The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C., registered in Abu Dhabi, was placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list on 30 July 2025.
OFAC identifies the company as:
The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C.
Office 105, Madinat Zayed Tower, Muroor Road, Abu Dhabi
Established: 22 March 2023
IMO company number: 6509771
UAE registration: CN-4818262
The U.S. Treasury links the company to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of senior Iranian political figure Ali Shamkhani.
Treasury described Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani’s operations as a global maritime network used to transport Iranian and Russian petroleum and said shipping management firms were employed around individual vessels to provide legal and financial insulation.
Among the ships directly blocked as property in the interest of the sanctioned Zulu company were:
AETHER, APATE, BRIONT, ETHERA, MANASLU, MISHELL, MYRA, TAGOR, TOA PAYOH, NEMRUT and TASSOS.
The British government has separately identified Zulu Ships Management as the current owner/operator associated with the tanker NEMRUT, IMO 9439541. On 24 February 2026, the UK designated NEMRUT under its Russia sanctions regime, stating that the tanker was involved in carrying Russian-origin oil or petroleum products from Russia to a third country.
These are established sanctions records.
What remains less clear — and deserves closer regulatory examination — is the wider network of companies and individuals operating under or around the Zulu name.
An Azerbaijani management footprint
Public professional and corporate-intelligence records identify Azerbaijani nationals in senior positions at a company called Zulu Shipping LLC.
Zamig Ismailov is publicly listed as Founder and CEO, while Ismayil Gasimov is listed as Chief Financial and Commercial Officer.
These public records alone do not establish that Zulu Shipping LLC is legally identical to the OFAC-designated Abu Dhabi company, The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C.
Nor do they establish that the Azerbaijani executives are beneficial owners of the sanctioned entity.
That distinction is important.
However, the overlap of the Zulu name, maritime-management activity, UAE connections and vessel-management relationships creates legitimate questions about whether these entities shared personnel, infrastructure, clients, commercial management functions or beneficial ownership.
Those questions have become more important because another Zulu company appears in the official investigation into one of the most serious maritime accidents involving an Azerbaijani crew in recent years.
The ANGEL disaster
On 21 July 2023, the Palau-flagged container ship ANGEL, IMO 9256406, sank off Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board later established that ANGEL was owned by Navramar Shipping Inc. and that all 19 crew members were Azerbaijani nationals.
More significantly, Taiwan’s official investigation states:
“NAVRAMAR Shipping INC., registered in the Marshall Islands. It is managed by the ZULU Shipping LLC.”
The investigation therefore independently establishes a direct operational relationship between Marshall Islands-registered Navramar Shipping Inc. and ZULU Shipping LLC.
The final TTSB material similarly identifies:
Ship Company: ZULU Shipping LLC
Ship Owner: Navramar Shipping Inc.
Flag: Palau
IMO: 9256406.
This connection is not based on media speculation. It appears in an official Taiwanese casualty investigation.
Exclusive document: another Zulu entity appears in an ANGEL crew contract
Euasia News has also reviewed a Seafarer’s Employment Agreement concerning an Azerbaijani crew member assigned to ANGEL.
The document identifies:
Ship: ANGEL
IMO: 9256406
Flag: Palau
Under both the “Manning Agent” and “Ship Owner / Employer / Technical Manager” fields, the agreement names:
Zulu Marine Services and Trade FZE
with a Fujairah, UAE address.
The document also bears a UAE company stamp.
For privacy reasons, Euasia News will redact the seafarer’s passport number, residential address, telephone details and other personal identifiers before publication.
This employment agreement is significant because it independently places a Zulu-branded UAE maritime company within ANGEL’s crewing/employment structure.
However, Euasia News has not established that Zulu Marine Services and Trade FZE, ZULU Shipping LLC and the OFAC-designated The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C. are the same legal entity.
That is precisely one of the questions regulators should examine.
Safety concerns before the sinking
ANGEL’s history also raises questions about corporate and technical oversight.
Taiwan’s investigation found that following inspections, the ship’s International Safety Management arrangements had not been fully established.
According to the TTSB report, the Safety Management System had not been properly implemented aboard the vessel and crew familiarisation with the relevant procedures was inadequate.
ANGEL subsequently suffered water ingress while anchored off Kaohsiung. Water in some cargo holds reached approximately 4.5 metres.
On 20 July 2023, the ship lost electrical power after its main generator failed. Pumping equipment stopped operating, and the crew eventually abandoned ship. ANGEL sank the following morning.
All 19 Azerbaijani crew members survived.
The Marshall Islands connection
The ownership structure deserves separate attention.
Taiwanese investigators identify Navramar Shipping Inc. of the Marshall Islands as ANGEL’s owner.
Separately, a company with a closely related name was established in Switzerland shortly before the ANGEL accident.
Navramar International Trading and Shipping SA was entered in the Geneva Commercial Register in February 2023.
Swiss commercial-register data show:
UID: CHE-280.359.012
Capital: CHF 100,000
Registered office: Geneva
Administrator and individual signatory: Elshad Hajiyev
https://www.northdata.com/Hajiyev,%20Elshad,%20Gen%C3%A8ve/_p6265738336
https://www.northdata.com/Efendieva,%20Nigyar,%20Gen%C3%A8ve/_p6242383621
https://www.pappers.ch/de/company/palmali-international-sa-en-liquidation-CHE114484188
Elshad Hajiyev – Co-Founder at Sparrow Analytics
Elshad Hajiyev Genf, Genf, Schweiz · Co-Founder & CEO · Sparrow Analytics SA
As the co-founder and CEO of Sparrow Analytics, General Director Palmali International SA 2017 – 2019. President of Palmali Group of Companies
Its registered purposes include international trade and the operation, management and chartering of ships.
The timing deserves attention.
The Swiss Navramar entity was incorporated in early 2023. ANGEL came under Navramar Shipping Inc. ownership and Zulu management later that year.
But an important qualification is necessary:
No evidence reviewed by Euasia News has yet established that Geneva-based Navramar International Trading and Shipping SA owns Marshall Islands-registered Navramar Shipping Inc.
The similarity of their names, business sectors and timing makes the relationship worthy of investigation, but it should not be presented as established beneficial ownership without registry or shareholder documentation.
The Palmali connection
There is another important element in this story.
Elshad Hajiyev has a documented professional history with Palmali Group, the shipping business associated with Azerbaijani-born businessman Mubariz Mansimov.
Hajiyev’s own public LinkedIn profile records that in January 2012 he received Palmali Group’s “Honored Employee” gold medal.
His profile states that one of the conditions for receiving the distinction was at least ten years of service to the company.
Independent business-intelligence information also lists Palmali Group of Companies among Hajiyev’s previous professional affiliations.
Years later, Hajiyev became the sole registered administrator of Geneva-based Navramar International Trading and Shipping SA.
At roughly the same period, Marshall Islands-registered Navramar Shipping Inc. became the owner of ANGEL, whose manager was identified by Taiwanese investigators as ZULU Shipping LLC.
These facts do not establish that Palmali, Navramar and Zulu constitute one corporate group.
They do, however, reveal a personnel and maritime-business trail that regulators may consider relevant when examining how shipping businesses, managers and assets migrate between corporate structures and jurisdictions.
Earlier Palmali-Iran documentation
The history is particularly notable because previous investigations published by Euasia News included commercial and port documentation concerning Palmali-operated vessels and Iranian voyages.
In a 2023 investigation concerning the tanker AGDASH, Euasia News published records described as including Iranian port documentation, shipping invoices and payment documentation.
The investigation reported that AGDASH, chartered by UAE-based Mawared Energy, was invoiced as a time charter by Palmali Shipping, and that payment was transferred to Palmali Shipping’s QNB Finansbank account through R Shipping.
The published investigation also contained documentation relating to Iranian ports.
Mubariz Mansimov has disputed allegations surrounding Iranian oil operations and has previously denied that certain vessels attributed to him were his company’s vessels.
The historical Palmali documentation should therefore not be treated as evidence that Zulu subsequently carried out the same transactions.
What it does demonstrate is why the movement of maritime personnel and corporate structures from older shipping organisations into newer UAE, Marshall Islands and European companies deserves transparent examination.
From Zulu to the Shamkhani network
Unlike the historic Palmali allegations, the present U.S. findings concerning the sanctioned Zulu entity are unambiguous.
OFAC officially links The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C. to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.
The U.S. Treasury further identified 11 tankers as property in the interest of the Zulu company.
This included BRIONT, NEMRUT and TASSOS, among others.
The British government subsequently identified Zulu Ships Management in NEMRUT’s operator information while sanctioning the tanker for Russian oil transportation.
This means that the Zulu name is no longer merely associated with an obscure maritime management company or the ANGEL casualty.
One Zulu entity is now formally part of an OFAC-designated Iranian shipping network, while a vessel identified with Zulu management has also been targeted by the United Kingdom in connection with Russian oil.
Questions regulators should now answer
Euasia News believes that the information presently available justifies a fresh, coordinated examination by U.S., EU and UK sanctions, financial-intelligence and maritime authorities.
Such an investigation should establish:
First, whether ZULU Shipping LLC, Zulu Marine Services and Trade FZE and The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C. have or had common beneficial owners, directors, senior managers, employees or authorised representatives.
Second, whether these entities shared the zulushipping.com domain, email infrastructure, offices, accounting systems, bank accounts, crewing operations or ship-management resources.
Third, whether Marshall Islands-registered Navramar Shipping Inc. and Geneva-based Navramar International Trading and Shipping SA have common shareholders, beneficial owners, financing arrangements or management.
Fourth, what commercial and employment relationships existed between individuals formerly connected to Palmali and the subsequent Navramar/Zulu corporate structures.
Fifth, whether vessels subsequently managed by the OFAC-designated Zulu company had previously been controlled, operated or commercially managed by related companies or individuals under different corporate names.
Sixth, whether any non-designated entities knowingly provided management, crewing, insurance, financing, chartering or technical services to vessels after those vessels or their controllers became subject to sanctions.
These questions should be resolved by examining UAE corporate registries, Marshall Islands company records, beneficial-ownership declarations, bank records, P&I insurance documents, ISM/DOC records, charter parties, crew contracts and vessel-management agreements.
A call for scrutiny — not a presumption of guilt
The existence of common personnel, similar company names or previous employment relationships does not by itself prove sanctions evasion or criminal conduct.
Nor does an offshore registration in the Marshall Islands constitute evidence of wrongdoing.
But the combination of facts now in the public record is substantial:
A Zulu company is formally sanctioned by the United States as part of the Shamkhani network.
Multiple tankers linked to that company have been blocked by OFAC.
The UK has sanctioned a Russian-oil tanker whose current operator information names Zulu Ships Management.
A separate ZULU Shipping LLC officially managed the ill-fated ANGEL.
A Zulu-branded UAE entity appears in an ANGEL seafarer employment agreement reviewed by Euasia News.
ANGEL was owned through a Marshall Islands company.
And a shipping executive with a documented long-term Palmali background later became the sole administrator of a Geneva shipping and trading company bearing the Navramar name.
Individually, these facts do not establish a single unified enterprise.
Taken together, however, they warrant a serious examination of beneficial ownership, corporate continuity, vessel transfers, management relationships and financial flows.
The EU, United Kingdom and United States have made the dismantling of opaque maritime networks a central element of their sanctions policy.
The Zulu–Navramar–ANGEL corporate trail should now be examined under the same standard.
Right of Reply
Euasia News welcomes documentary clarification from Zulu Shipping LLC, The Zulu Ships Management and Operation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C., Zulu Marine Services and Trade FZE, Navramar Shipping Inc., Navramar International Trading and Shipping SA, Elshad Hajiyev, Zamig Ismailov, Ismayil Gasimov, Palmali and Mubariz Mansimov.
Any substantiated response concerning ownership, management, corporate relationships, vessel operations or sanctions compliance will be published fairly and, where appropriate, incorporated into this investigation.
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