French authorities are investigating the Boracay, an aframax that is part of the shadow fleet and has been linked to last week’s drone invasion at Copenhagen airport.
The ship, carrying Urals crude to Asia, was detained near Saint Nazaire over the weekend. The vessel has been hit by sanctions from both the European Union and the United Kingdom.
Estonian authorities detained the tanker earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag.
Denmark named the Boracay as one of three ships possibly used as a launch point for drones that closed Copenhagen’s airport last week.
On the evening of September 22, when drones intruded at Copenhagen airport, the Boracay was sailing within 70 nautical miles according to data from Windward, a maritime analytics company. Ten hours earlier, it had changed its name from Pushpa and switched flags from Malawi to Benin, a flag that has grown in size by more than 400% this year, according to Clarksons Research.
Built in 2007, Boracay has been Russia-trading since November 2022, after joining the dark fleet via Gatik Ship Management.
Since entering the dark fleet, Boracay has had four registered owners and has cycled through five names and seven flags according to Windward.
