American personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions 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 several nations. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
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Clarence Scott
| 03 Mar 2026
Clarence Scott
| 03 Mar 2026