American agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards South Africa”.
