Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Seized by American Authorities is Now Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
