News
On Jan. 22, the French Navy intercepted the oil tanker Grinch (IMO: 9288851) in the Mediterranean Sea, according to an announcement made by the French military on X earlier today. A press release issued by the Maritime Prefecture of the Mediterranean said the vessel, which had set sail from the Russian port of Murmansk, was suspected of operating under a false flag and violating international sanctions.
According to Starboard Maritime Intelligence data reviewed by The Insider, the ship has changed flags five times over the past two years: from the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Gabon and Barbados to the Comoros (under whose flag it currently claims to be sailing). The tanker also changed its name from “Carl” to “Grinch” in April 2025 — and lost its classification this past October.
An analysis of its movements shows the tanker regularly called at ports in Turkey and Russia. Its voyage history includes suspicious patterns, such as prolonged drifting in open waters and repeated shutdowns of its Automatic Identification System, or AIS.
The Grinch’s position in the Mediterranean Sea at the time it was intercepted by the French Navy
Starboard Maritime Intelligence
The French Navy said the operation was carried out in the Alboran Sea, part of the Mediterranean, under Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). After a boarding team was deployed, an inspection of the ship’s documents confirmed the authorities’ “doubts about the legitimacy of the flag being flown.”
At the request of the Marseille prosecutor’s office, the tanker was diverted and is now sailing under escort by French warships to an anchorage for further checks. The operation was carried with support from France’s allies, including the UK.
Photo: French Joint Staff (@FrenchForces / X)
French President Emmanuel Macron responded to the action by tweeting that France would crack down on all violations at sea. He added that a judicial investigation had been opened, and he stressed that the activities of Russia’s “shadow fleet” play a key role in helping to finance Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine. France, he added, is “determined to enforce international law and ensure the effectiveness of sanctions.”
The United States recently began actively seizing tankers linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet,” with a seventh vessel, the Sagitta (IMO: 9296822), detained in the Caribbean Sea on Jan. 20.