Imagery Image Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service presently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
American agencies are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the tanker is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
