Gambia steps up fight against falsely-flagged, shadow fleet vessels

Gambia has started its fight against falsely-flagged and shadow fleet vessels, as the West African country adapts to crackdowns conducted by Comoros.

Following the approach of Comoros against falsely-flagged ships and shadow fleets, Gambia reported that a total of 72 ships have been deflagged for fraudulent certificates, according to the Maritime Executive.

However, these 72 removals are not yet reflected in the International Maritime Organisation’s database, which still lists 104 vessels under the Gambia flag, and 40 of which are said to be shadow fleet tankers.

Comoros, meanwhile, removed 60 falsely flagged vessels using their country.

‘Flag-hopping’ on the rise

Cases of flag-hopping have increased in 2025, particularly the third quarter of the year, according to maritime AI company Windward.

The United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control described flag-hopping as “repeatedly registering with new flag states to avoid detection,” noting that some legitimate ships use it as a financial strategy.

According to data provided by Windward, Gambia- and Sierra Leone-flagged vessels accounted for 40 per cent of tankers that visited Russia’s Baltic Sea ports, from October 1 to November 10, in which 19 per cent of those ships were falsely-flagged.

Windward also revealed that there were ships sailing under the flag of Gambia that switched into five different flags in a span of six months.

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Russian vessels

It was also reported that there are 550 active and sanctioned trading vessels from Russia.

Despite growing pressure from the European Union and the United Kingdom, 17 of the sanctioned vessels were identified to have fraudulent registries, the Windward noted.

“Gambia’s actions mark meaningful progress, but hundreds of sanctioned tankers continue to exploit an expanding network of fraudulent registries,” the Maritime Executive quoted Windward as saying.

“For now, the dark fleet remains more agile than the regulatory system designed to oversee it.”

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