The Italian Financial Guard (the Guardia di Finanza) has detained a vessel in the port of Brindisi that arrived from Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea with a cargo of 33,000 tons of metal raw materials. The vessel was flying the flag of a “small island in Oceania.“
According to the Guard, the customs inspection revealed “serious inconsistencies, falsifications and changes in on-board documentation regarding stops and cargo loading operations.“
An analysis of the data obtained from the ECDIS system (mandatory electronic navigation system for large vessels) made it possible to establish that the vessel was in the port of Novorossiysk from November 13 to November 16, 2025, carrying out prohibited cargo loading operations. At the same time, the ship‘s GPS transponder was turned off at that time.
The port of Novorossiysk has been under EU sanctions since February 2025 “due to circumvention of oil price restrictions and provision of any services to ships.“
The vessel and its cargo have been arrested.
