American personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper â the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime â is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It â in contrast to the first vessel â was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third such ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that âit will ultimately be securedâ.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been âin transit for 39 daysâ and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have âanother 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her speed decreasesâ.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is âlikely heading south-east towards South Africaâ.
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