By Jonathan Saul LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – The United States will target shipping companies that are in breach of sanctions and aggressively enforce measures across the globe to clamp down on such practices, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday.
In one of the biggest sanctions actions taken by the U.S. government since its crackdown on Iranian oil exports, Washington imposed sanctions on Chinese companies in late September for alleged involvement in moving crude oil from Iran.
COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), a subsidiary of China’s state-owned shipping group COSCO, was one of the companies blacklisted.
Concern over shippers falling foul of U.S. sanctions sent oil freight costs to record highs around the world, adding millions of dollars to the cost of every voyage.
Washington has also used sanctions on other countries including Venezuela and North Korea.
David Peyman, deputy assistant secretary of state for counter threat finance and sanctions, said ships were “the key artery to evade sanctions.”
“If behavior doesn’t change, notwithstanding our very frank conversations and clear messages, then we do look towards fully and aggressively and consistently enforcing U.S. sanctions across the board as a means to change behavior of bad actors,” he told reporters on a visit to London.
Peyman, who was holding meetings with shipping officials in Europe, said the maritime supply chain was complex but companies needed to invest in more due diligence and take proactive measures to avoid being caught in potential sanctions breaches.
“It’s costly to invest in due diligence and I know business leaders don’t see value added,” said Peyman, who leads the U.S. Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation.
“Unfortunately, they will see value added when there are hard costs to bear including their business potentially going out of business because of a designation or enforcement action.”
Peyman said insurance companies and banks could check the history of ships they covered or financed to see whether there were gaps in a vessel’s voyage history, which is logged through AIS tracking transponders, which may point to illicit and concealed activity.
COSCO
Last month, Washington gave temporary approval for companies to wind down transactions with the designated COSCO subsidiaries until Dec. 20.
Peyman said he was “not going to be able to signal what we are going to do after the expiration of the license, other than to say that we are engaged in discussions with COSCO.”
Peyman said shipping officials had described to him the move against the COSCO entities as “shock and awe.”
He added that the goal was to “help set a good precedent for others in the sector to learn the lessons from a designation like COSCO – that no company is too big to be sanctioned, no company is in a jurisdiction that is safe from sanctions and what they could be doing to protect themselves.” (Editing by Dale Hudson)
CAIRO, March 2 (Reuters) – The Houthi Transport Ministry in Yemen said on Saturday there had been a “glitch” in undersea communication cables in the Red Sea as a result of actions...
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) In the current American labor landscape, the stark contrast between the assertive strides of transportation unions and the maritime sector’s unique labor challenges is striking....
By Mikhail Flores MANILA, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Evacuations were under way in the Philippines after a quake of at least magnitude 7.5 struck the southern region of Mindanao on Saturday night,...
December 2, 2023
Total Views: 2164
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.