Sanctioned tanker destined to arrive at Matanzas port on Monday evening
The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was about to arrive on Monday, March 30 in the evening, at the port of Matanzas, near Havana, according to data transmitted by its automatic identification system (AIS). It was sailing at a speed of 14 knots, with 730,000 barrels of crude oil for the island under a blockade by the United States.
This 249.9-meter long Aframax with a deadweight of 118,316 tonnes, built in 2013, belongs to a company registered in Dubai. It is listed as a sanctioned vessel by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, and Switzerland. Interestingly, the United States apparently did not oppose the entry of the ship into Cuban waters, which loaded oil in Primorsk, near St. Petersburg, on March 8. According to the New York Times, citing an official note, the Trump administration allowed it to continue its journey.
Since January and the American operation in Venezuela, which was Cuba’s main oil supplier, the island has not received any oil deliveries. Running short on fuel for its thermal power plants, the island is experiencing frequent power outages. It would take between 15 and 20 days to refine the oil, and another 5 to 10 days to distribute the refined products whose destination is unknown.
Since the start of a campaign launched in December 2025 against the “ghost fleet” transporting oil to Venezuela, the United States has intercepted at least nine tankers, primarily in the Caribbean Sea but also in the North Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This campaign was preceded, since early September 2025, by a series of strikes on vessels accused of trafficking drugs to the United States.
By the editorial team of Mer et Marine. Reproduction prohibited without the consent of the author(s).
