EU readies 145 new Russia listings for 16 November
The EU is sanctioning the shadow fleet’s suppliers, and forwarders are next in the screening line
On Wednesday 11 November, EU ambassadors gave preliminary agreement to add 145 individuals and entities to the bloc’s Russia sanctions lists. The ambassadors met in Coreper, the committee of member states’ permanent representatives that prepares decisions for ministers. European Pravda reported the agreement on 12 November. EU foreign ministers are expected to formally adopt the listings on Monday 16 November.
The targets are Russian oil refining and what the EU now calls the “shadow fleet ecosystem”. The shadow fleet is the group of mostly older tankers that carry Russian oil outside Western price-cap rules, often with unclear owners and thin insurance. Banks are in the frame too. French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said the EU will sanction 50 banks operating in Russia on Monday, and that France proposed most of them, European Pravda reported.
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Our view is simple. For most of this sanctions drive, the EU has listed ships. It is now listing the businesses that keep those ships moving: the fuel suppliers, managers, crewing agents and banks. That changes what good screening looks like for anyone who books, pays for or services a voyage. Checking the ship’s name against a list is no longer enough.
What was agreed and what happens Monday
The 145 names were agreed in principle by ambassadors. They are not law until ministers adopt them and they are published in the EU’s Official Journal. Adoption is expected on 16 November.
Maria Luís Albuquerque, the EU Commissioner for Financial Services, previewed the move in the European Parliament. “Next Monday [16 November], EU foreign ministers are poised to adopt further listing measures on oil refineries and the shadow fleet ecosystem,” she said, as quoted by European Pravda. She called it “yet another round of hard listings targeting the malicious attempts of enablers and profiteers of Russia’s war of aggression.”
She also gave a running total. The EU has put “over 690 shadow fleet vessels in the sanctions lists, denying them access to EU ports and the provision of services,” European Pravda reported. The EU has also imposed transaction bans on over 100 Russian banks, she said.
Albuquerque’s case for the policy was blunt. “Sanctions work, and Moscow knows it,” she said. “They have cost Russia over €1 trillion that it could have otherwise spent on the war.” That €1 trillion is her figure.
This is not the 22nd sanctions package. It is a separate round of listings. Albuquerque said the EU’s diplomatic service and the European Commission are finishing proposals for the 22nd package. European Pravda’s EU sources say it will be ready by the end of November.
How the list has grown in 2026
The pace of listings this year has been steady. Each full package has added roughly 40 to 50 ships.
On 23 April 2026, the Council of the EU adopted its 20th package. “Forty-six additional vessels have been designated,” P&I insurer Skuld said in a circular republished by Cyprus Shipping News. That took the total of designated shadow fleet vessels to 632. Eleven vessels were taken off the list at the same time.
The 21st package came in late July. EU ambassadors agreed it on 23 July, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. It added 41 vessels and took the total to 673, the same analysis said. Skuld put the new total at over 670. That package also extended transaction bans to two more Russian ports, Olya and Vysotsk, on top of Murmansk and Tuapse from the 20th package, Skuld said.
Albuquerque’s “over 690” figure now means the list has grown again since July. From 632 in April to over 690 in November is an increase of more than 58 ships in about seven months.
From ships to the services around them
The bigger change in July was not the number of ships. It was who got listed and why.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence analyst Marina Lebedeva wrote that the 21st package created two new grounds for listing a vessel. One covers ships that provide bunkering, tug or similar services to a vessel that is already designated. Bunkering means selling and delivering fuel to a ship. The other covers ships that do ship-to-ship transfers with a designated vessel. These are cargo swaps at sea, often used to hide where oil came from.
Under the first ground, five vessels, mostly bunker tankers, were listed with an entry date of 24 July 2026, she wrote. They were described as having “regularly refuelled already designated tankers”. The same package listed six ship management and service companies. It also listed a crewing agency as an enabler for the first time, she wrote.
Her conclusion is the line forwarders should keep in mind: “a clean check on the ship no longer clears the relationship as a whole.” She also stressed that liability does not wait on intent. “The prohibition on dealing with a listed vessel does not depend on what the supplier knew or believed,” she wrote.
Monday’s round, with its focus on the “ecosystem”, looks like the next step on that path. The 50 bank listings fit too. Banks are how freight, demurrage and bunker bills get paid.
What it means for forwarders and shippers
Most container forwarders will never charter a shadow-fleet tanker. But the exposure is wider than that, and it grows with each round.
First, counterparties. A port agent, bunker supplier, surveyor, crewing firm or ship manager can now be listed in its own right. If your booking or invoice chain touches one after Monday, the problem is yours from adoption day. That holds whether or not you knew.
Second, payments. Fifty more banks operating in Russia are due to be sanctioned on Monday. Freight paid through, or received from, one of those banks after adoption could be blocked. Check the bank details on any open invoice with a Russia link.
Third, documents. Bills of lading, charter parties and booking confirmations name vessels, owners, operators and sometimes managers. Each of those fields is now a screening point. A vessel that was clean last week can be listed on Monday. So can its manager.
Fourth, routing near Russia. Ports such as Murmansk, Tuapse, Olya and Vysotsk already carry EU transaction bans, according to Skuld. Breakbulk and project cargo that touches the Caspian, Black Sea or Arctic routes needs the most care.
The practical steps are not complicated. Re-run sanctions screening on all open shipments after the Official Journal publishes Monday’s listings. Screen the manager, operator and bunker supplier, not just the vessel’s IMO number. That is the unique seven-digit ID every ship carries for life, and it survives name and flag changes. Ask carriers and agents to confirm in writing that no listed party is in the chain. Add a sanctions clause to new contracts that lets you suspend performance if a party is listed mid-voyage.
What is still unresolved
One big lever has not been pulled. The 20th package created a legal basis for a full ban on maritime services, including insurance, for ships carrying Russian crude oil and oil products. That would go beyond the current price-cap system. But the Council will only set a start date after coordinating with the G7 and the Price Cap Coalition, Skuld said in May. By late July, Skuld wrote that “no decision on activating it has been taken yet.”
Until that switch is flipped, the EU is relying on lists. Lists only work if they keep growing as owners rename, reflag and resell ships. That is why the focus has moved to suppliers and managers, who are harder to replace than a hull’s name. It is also why we expect the lists to keep getting longer, not shorter.
There is also a lag. European Pravda’s sources say the 22nd package will be ready by the end of November. Ready is not adopted. All 27 member states must still agree to it.
Our call
We expect the 22nd package to follow the 2026 pattern of about 40 or more new vessels, plus more service providers. Our prediction: the EU’s listed shadow-fleet total will pass 730 vessels by the end of January 2027. We also expect the full maritime services ban to still be switched off at that date. If both hold, the burden of keeping Russian oil out of EU-linked trade will sit even more on screening by the businesses that book and pay for voyages, forwarders included.
Sources
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