Nearly 300 tankers are flying false flags according to data from Israeli maritime analysts firm Windward despite an increasing crackdown on the practice in recent weeks.
As 2025 drew to a close, approximately 285 internationally trading tankers were broadcasting via AIS under the flag of a fraudulent or unknown registry, according to Windward. The company has identified 18 such fraudulent registries, noting that 91% of vessels using these fraudulent registries were already sanctioned by Western authorities.
The most frequently used fraudulent registries were Guinea (51 ships), Netherlands Antilles (45), Guyana (44), and Aruba (24).
“False flags weaken the commercial and legal infrastructure that global shipping depends on to function predictably,” Windward stated in a new update.
Recently the West has started to crack down on shadow vessels – the US apprehending seven tankers linked to Venezuelan trades over the last seven weeks, while France boarded a Russian aframax yesterday flying a false flag in the western Mediterranean.
Countries are also becoming more vocal in distancing themselves from organisations claiming to flag vessels on their behalf. The Tonga government, for instance, issued a statement earlier this month denouncing any foreign vessel claiming to fly its flag. It said Tonga’s international registry of ships was closed in 2002 and the kingdom does not register foreign vessels engaged in international voyages.
“When a vessel claims a fraudulent or nonexistent registry, the mechanisms that underpin maritime trade begin to fail,” Windward stated, going on to explain: “Flag-state responsibility becomes unenforceable. Insurance and classification linked to that flag may be invalid, suspended, or impossible to verify.”
At scale, Windward argued that widespread false flagging erodes confidence in documentation, registries, and compliance processes that global shipping relies on to move safely and efficiently.
