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There were seven Russians on board the tanker that caught fire in the Gulf of Oman

Several days ago, the 300-meter tanker Adalynn caught fire after colliding with another vessel in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The owner of the vessel has still not been identified. The phones of Global Shipping Holding Ltd, listed as the operator of the tanker Adalynn, are not answering.

As previously reported, the tanker Adalynn, which belongs to the so-called “shadow fleet” and was transporting Russian oil, collided with the tanker Front Eagle in the waters of the port of Khor Fakkan in the UAE. As a result of the collision, a fire broke out on both vessels. The Front Eagle crew was able to cope with the fire, but the Adalynn team was unable to stop the spread of the fire and was evacuated to the shore. According to information, 24 crew members of the tanker were accommodated in a hotel in the UAE.

Adalynn had previously been transporting Russian oil from the port of Ust-Luga, bypassing the G7 price cap, using tricks such as turning off the AIS system to hide the route
Lars Barstad, the head of Frontline, the operator of the Front Eagle, said they had been unable to contact the owner of the Adalynn.

“This is the first time our company has had direct contact with a ‘shadow fleet’ vessel,” Barstad said. “It’s just crazy that we can’t find a single contact person.”

Frontline tried to contact the owners of the Adalynn after the collision, but were unable to find anyone responsible.

The address of the company operating the Adalynn was listed as an office complex in Navi Mumbai, a suburb of the 22 million-strong Indian city of Mumbai. However, there is no public directory for the office building housing logistics, training and maritime firms, so it was not possible to confirm that this is where Global Shipping Holding Ltd is based.

The company reportedly operates two aging tankers, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Adalynn and the UK-sanctioned Carcharodon for transporting oil from Russia. Both vessels are also on the Ukrainian government’s sanctions list for their involvement in the shadow trade of Russian oil.

According to Vesseltracker, the Adalynn and Front Eagle collided in the Gulf of Oman, leaving an oil slick of about six square miles off the coast of Iran and the UAE. The oil spill, which covered 1.47 square miles on June 17, has quadrupled in size in just 24 hours, threatening a regional environmental disaster

The Adalynn had previously transported Russian oil from the port of Ust-Luga in circumvention of the G7 price cap, using tricks such as disabling the AIS system to hide the route.

The Adalynn and Front Eagle tankers collided in the Gulf of Oman, leaving an oil slick covering about six square miles off the coast of Iran and the UAE
Despite the official statement that the vessel was empty at the time of the collision, the Adalynn’s 9.3-meter draft suggests that it was carrying up to 70,000 tons of crude oil.

The origin of the cargo on this voyage has not been confirmed, but it is believed that the oil could have been transshipped from another vessel. It is known that from May 1 until the collision, Adalynn was cruising in the Gulf of Oman, which indicates a possible tanker-to-tanker oil transfer. Prior to this, Adalynn was in the port of Duqm (Oman), from where it made periodic voyages to the Gulf of Oman. The last confirmed direct loading took place in Ust-Luga in September 2024. After that, the ship arrived again in Duqm and called at several other ports in the region.

There are no records of Global Shipping Holding Ltd in the world’s largest open corporate database, Open Corporates. In addition, ship tracking data indicates that Adalynn may not have P&I insurance (pollution and injury liability). It follows that all legal and environmental liability falls solely on the ship owner.

As for the tanker, Carcharodon, allegedly belonging to the same company, it is currently in East Asian waters and is heading for the Chinese port of Qingdao. The vessel left the Russian port of Ust-Luga and is carrying oil that falls under international sanctions.