India's ship safety classification body, the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), has cancelled certifications for more than 200 tankers and other vessels involved in evading international trade sanctions, marking one of the most aggressive enforcement actions against the so-called shadow fleet. The crackdown targets vessels that have been switching flags and manipulating AIS tracking data to transport sanctioned Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil. The mass de-certification effectively renders these vessels uninsurable and unable to call at most international ports, squeezing the capacity of the dark fleet that has grown to an estimated 600-800 vessels since 2022. The move aligns India with G7 price-cap enforcement efforts and signals growing international coordination against sanctions evasion in maritime trade.
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