Sanctions
Government measures restricting trade or dealings with designated entities, vessels, cargoes or jurisdictions.
- Category
- Risk and Sanctions
- Last reviewed
How it works
In shipping, sanctions are restrictions imposed by governments and bodies (such as the US, EU and UK) on dealing with designated persons, companies, vessels, cargoes or whole jurisdictions. They can prohibit carrying certain cargoes, dealing with a listed owner, or trading above a price cap.
Compliance requires screening counterparties, beneficial owners and the ships themselves against designation lists, and watching for evasion behaviour. We screen against publicly published, commercially usable designation data and surface exposure in our risk tools, never from licence-restricted sources.
Where it shows up on The Maritime
Also known as: sanctions, designations, price cap.
Related terms
Dark Fleet
The population of ageing, opaquely owned and often uninsured tankers that move sanctioned oil while disguising their movements.
Ship-to-Ship Transfer (STS)
The transfer of cargo directly between two vessels moored alongside, often at anchor or offshore rather than at a terminal.
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
A VHF transponder system that broadcasts a ship’s identity, position, course and speed for collision avoidance and tracking.
Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)
The real person or company that ultimately owns or controls a vessel, behind the layers of registered and disponent owners.
More risk and sanctions terms
A plain-English reference definition: our own explanation of a standard shipping concept, not a licensed source or legal advice. See the full glossary or the broader maritime dictionary.
Last reviewed: .