Sanctioned tanker carrying Rosneft cargo reaches China via unusual route, — Bloomberg

The ship delivered a cargo of Russian oil from the sanctioned Rosneft to China via a convoluted route.

The “Fortis” tanker’s route included a transshipment off the coast of India and a brief stop off South Korea, Bloomberg reports.

The “Fortis”, loaded with about 700,000 barrels of oil, anchored off the port of Zhizhao on China’s east coast. Almost all import terminals in this port are on the US sanctions list for their involvement in the trade in oil from Iran.

The Rosneft cargo took 11 weeks to arrive. It is currently unclear whether “Fortis” will be unloaded in Zhizhao.

As a reminder, in early November, the “Fortis” tanker received about 720,000 barrels of Russian Urals oil from Rosneft from the Ailana vessel via STS in the high seas off the coast of India.

Before that, the Ailana took on oil from the Russian port of Ust-Luga in late September, then crossed the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and arrived in Mumbai at the end of October, where it stopped. The cargo ended up on the Fortis tanker almost two weeks later.

The Fortis then signaled that it was heading to the port of Kochi in India, then changed course to the Chinese port of Ningbo, and later to Yeosu (South Korea). According to Kpler, part of the cargo was transferred to another tanker there.

It usually takes about two months to transport oil from Russian western ports to China. The “Fortis” cargo was delivered a month longer.

The owner and operators of the “Fortis” tanker did not respond to requests for comment. The owner of the Ailana also could not be reached, as the ship’s management company’s contacts are missing from the database.