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Shadow shipping rules fracture into a two-tier system
A shadow fleet tanker hit a mine off Oman carrying about 800,000 barrels of Russian crude, with cleanup costs left without traditional P and I insurance coverage.
Eighteen major maritime nations are warning that global shipping rules are fracturing into a two-tier system, a shift the Consultative Shipping Group says is becoming structural rather than temporary. In a first public statement in more than 60 years, the CSG said its members cover more than a fifth of global trade by tonnage.
At the center of the problem, according to the statement published by the Danish Maritime Authority, is an unregulated shadow fleet operating outside standard insurance, safety, and transparency frameworks. The CSG said this creates one tier governed by rules and another by opacity, weakening both sets of standards.
The insurance consequences are already showing up, the CSG said, pointing to a Caroline Bezengi vessel that struck a limpet mine off Oman this summer while carrying roughly 800,000 barrels of Russian crude. The statement said it had no traditional protection and indemnity, and no insurer came forward to fund cleanup costs, leaving the Omani government to bear much of the financial burden.
The CSG also linked the wider fragmentation to insurance market stress and chokepoint risk, citing the Strait of Hormuz. It said war risk premiums for tankers surged after the February 2026 conflict and that disruptions can ripple across hull, cargo, and P and I lines at the same time, with more than 80 percent of world trade moving by sea.
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