What the Eventin did before Germany seized it
On 10 January 2025 the tanker Eventin lost power in a storm off the German island of Rügen and began to drift. It was carrying roughly 99,000 tonnes of Russian crude. German rescue services towed it into the roadstead off Sassnitz, where tugs held it in position and customs officers came aboard. It has not traded since.
Two months later its registry entry changed. The registered owner became "reported sold — undisclosed interest." In April the ISM manager, the company legally answerable for its safe operation, became "unknown." A laden tanker sits under seizure in a European anchorage and the record no longer names anyone who owns it.
The ship, and the case
Eventin is designated by five authorities: the European Union in February 2025, then Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Ukraine's War and Sanctions register also lists it. That register is an advisory identification maintained by an intelligence directorate, not a binding designation, and we count it separately — a distinction that matters if anything here is ever relied on. A
24 February 2025 — European Union
EU Council Official Journal listing. The first designation, five weeks after Eventin lost power off Rügen.
4 March 2025 — Switzerland
Eight days after the EU.
21 July 2025 — United Kingdom
The same date Monte 1 — the tanker Eventin met at Ust-Luga in October 2024 — is designated under the EU's Official Journal listing, in a separate action.
30 July 2025 — United States
Nine days after the UK.
12 November 2025 — Canada
The fifth binding designation, nine months after the first.
9 June 2026 — Ukraine (advisory)
An advisory identification, not a binding designation — recorded separately, as throughout this reconstruction.
Data table
| Date | Label | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 2025 | European Union | Binding designation |
| 4 Mar 2025 | Switzerland (SECO) | Binding designation |
| 21 Jul 2025 | United Kingdom (FCDO) | Binding designation |
| 30 Jul 2025 | United States (OFAC) | Binding designation |
| 12 Nov 2025 | Canada | Binding designation |
| 9 Jun 2026 | Ukraine (GUR) — advisory | Binding designation |
Data table
| Authority | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| EU | 2025-02-24 | Binding designation |
| CH SECO | 2025-03-04 | Binding designation |
| UK FCDO | 2025-07-21 | Binding designation |
| US OFAC | 2025-07-30 | Binding designation |
| CA | 2025-11-12 | Binding designation |
| UA GUR | 2026-06-09 | Advisory (not binding) |
Germany holds the hull, and a customs confiscation dispute over the cargo is before the Federal Fiscal Court. That is a civil proceeding, not a criminal trial.
The seizure also draws a hard line through the data. German authorities assigned the vessel a German MMSI, and everything it has transmitted since 10 January 2025 reflects being in German custody rather than anything it chose. So the reconstruction below rests only on what it did before that date.
Dark at the load port
Its recent voyages loaded in one place. It called at Ust-Luga, Russia, on 12 August 2024, 25 October 2024, and 6 January 2025 — each time declaring its destination only as "to be advised."
In the approaches to that port, on 30 December 2024, it stopped transmitting for about 68 hours and reappeared within roughly one nautical mile of where it went silent. A vessel that goes quiet and comes back where it started was not out of range; it was sitting still.
The corroboration is what makes that reading hold. Through the same window, three or more other hulls in the same waters were transmitting normally. The receivers were working. Coverage was not the explanation. A
Two further gaps sit at the other end of the trade, off Visakhapatnam on India's east coast, in September 2024 — about 38 and 32 hours.
68 hours in the Ust-Luga approaches
Reappeared within about one nautical mile of where it went silent — stationary, not out of range. Corroborated: three or more other hulls in the same waters transmitted normally through the same window.
38 hours off Visakhapatnam
The first of two gaps at the discharge end of the trade, on India's east coast.
32 hours off Visakhapatnam
The second. Both sit at the opposite end of the route from the Ust-Luga load calls.
Data table
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Ust-Luga approaches | 68 hours |
| Visakhapatnam (first) | 38 hours |
| Visakhapatnam (second) | 32 hours |
Who stands behind it
The registry says "undisclosed." The sanctions record says more.
The EU listing and OpenSanctions identify the registered owner as Laliya Shipping Corp, the commercial manager as Vaigai Lines Inc, and an interested party as Algae Ship Charter FZCO. Vaigai Lines is designated by the United Kingdom. Algae Ship Charter is designated by both the United States and the United Kingdom. Laliya appears on Ukraine's advisory register, and we label it as such. A
Those sources place the wider structure alongside Fractal Marine DMCC, a UAE company sanctioned by the United Kingdom, and describe the network as controlled through the Shamkhani shipping interests.
The sequence is worth reading in order. Fractal Marine was sanctioned, challenged its designation, lost, and then re-signed its fleet to other companies. The "reported sold, undisclosed interest" entered against this hull on 11 March 2025 fits that pattern. We present the structure as sourced fact. Whether it amounts to continued control by a designated party is a determination for the recipient's own counsel, not for us.
The vessel it met — and what we will not call it
On 25 October 2024 AIS places Eventin in company with another tanker: IMO 9297553, then named Montego, since renamed Monte 1. The United Kingdom designated that hull in June 2025, eight months later. It is also the same hull recorded independently as a counterparty in our Smyrtos reconstruction — two case files, built from two vessels' own transmissions, meeting at the same third ship.
We are not calling it a ship-to-ship transfer.
The two hulls were in company for about four hours, on the same date Eventin called at Ust-Luga. Roughly 100,000 tonnes of crude does not move in four hours; the transfer we reconstructed in the Smyrtos case ran about forty-two. Four hours at a loading terminal is far better explained by two tankers working the same port than by a cargo transfer at sea. B
So the finding is a network link, dated and sourced, and nothing more. The temptation to call it a transfer is exactly the kind of over-reach that makes a file worthless the first time someone checks it.
What the record does not show
Eventin's AIS history contains 62 gaps. Most are satellite or terrestrial coverage limits, and we do not treat them as evasion; only a minority survive kinematic validation as genuine stationary events.
Two of those sit inside the detention. One is the January 2025 engine failure — a total power loss takes AIS down with everything else, so there is nothing there to detect. The other is a stationary period in German coastal waters months later, while the ship was being held. A detained vessel at anchor that stops transmitting is a vessel at anchor, not a vessel hiding. A
The same discipline applies to its flag. Our AIS recorded it broadcasting a German flag while the registry recorded none — which, read carelessly, looks like flag fraud. It isn't. It was in German custody, under a German-assigned MMSI. The innocent explanation was the correct one.
We include these because a screen that flags every silence is worth nothing. The discrimination is the product. On this hull, the determinative facts are the designation and the ownership record — not the transmission gaps.
Evidence and confidence
Each finding above carries a grade for how it was established, not how serious it is.
| Claim — evidence basis | Grade |
|---|---|
| Five binding designations — EU, CH, UK, US, CA (24 Feb 2025 → 12 Nov 2025) | A |
| 68-hour stationary gap, Ust-Luga approaches, 30 Dec 2024 — corroborated by ambient traffic | A |
| Ownership record — Laliya Shipping Corp, Vaigai Lines Inc, Algae Ship Charter FZCO (EU listing + OpenSanctions) | A |
| Co-presence with Monte 1, ~4 hours at Ust-Luga, 25 Oct 2024 — read as a shared port call, not a ship-to-ship transfer | B |
| Detention-period gaps (casualty, custody) — excluded from the evasion finding | A |
What would prove this wrong
Three specific, checkable ways this reconstruction could be wrong or overstated:
- The Ust-Luga corroboration doesn't hold up. The "stationary, not out of range" reading depends on three or more other hulls transmitting normally through the same box and window. If that ambient-traffic check is ever shown to be thin or wrong for this specific stretch of water, the finding weakens back to an ordinary coverage gap.
- The ownership chain gets corrected. Laliya Shipping Corp / Vaigai Lines / Algae Ship Charter / Fractal Marine is sourced from OpenSanctions and the EU listing, not derived by us. If any of those attributions is later revised upstream, the network structure described here needs revisiting, not just a footnote.
- A documented ship-to-ship transfer surfaces for the Monte 1 encounter. We read the four-hour overlap as two tankers working the same port, not a cargo transfer, because 100,000 tonnes doesn't move in four hours. If radar, a bunker delivery note, or another independent source ever shows an actual transfer at that time and place, this reading is wrong and should be corrected, not defended.
Method
The reconstruction is built from the vessels' own AIS transmissions. It is anchored on the IMO number, the one identifier that survives a name or flag change. Sources are named where each finding appears, and advisory registers are marked as advisory rather than counted as designations.
Where a satellite radar pass exists over a position of interest, it is used. Where none was acquired, that is recorded rather than inferred from. The tests behind the detection method are proprietary and are not described here.
The analysis reports what the vessels did and what the record says. What it means is for the reader, the court, or the reader's own counsel to determine.
Use
This reconstruction and video are free to use, but you must credit AIS Dark.
The full case file is free too. It carries the dated designation timeline, the complete ownership chain, the co-presence record, and a per-claim evidence grade for every finding above. Enter an email below and we'll send it over.
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As of 30 July 2026. Case AISD-9308065.
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