🔗 Share this article

Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly carrying embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.

Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.

The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.

This seizure was followed by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.

American agencies are now pursuing a third ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity drops”.

The group added the tanker is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.