Podcast Summary: Planet Money – "How Russia’s Shadow Fleet is Sailing Around Oil Sanctions"

Date: October 17, 2025
Hosts: Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi (B), Daniel Ackerman (D)
Featured Guests: Bjarne Cesar Skinnerup (C, Danish maritime pilot), Michelle VC Bachman (E, maritime intelligence specialist)

Overview of the Episode

This episode explores how Western sanctions on Russian oil following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine gave rise to a clandestine "shadow fleet" of oil tankers. These vessels operate in legal gray zones and often flout international regulations, reshaping global oil markets, evading enforcement, and creating significant economic and environmental risks. The Planet Money team guides listeners through firsthand stories from maritime pilots, shadowy tracking methods, the quirks of international law, and the broad impacts on world economies and geopolitics.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Life of a Maritime Pilot in the Danish Straits

• [00:26-03:57]
  • Bjarne Cesar Skinnerup, a veteran pilot, describes the high-stakes job of steering tankers (mostly oil, often Russian) through complex Danish waters.
  • Notable quote:
    • "Our job is to bring ships through dangerous waters." – Skinnerup [01:00]
    • "We are just a little cog in the big machine of the global economy." – Skinnerup [02:36]
  • Recently, he’s noticed a surge of unusually old, shabbily maintained ships with new names, unknown insurers, and unfamiliar flags—a sharp contrast to the previously strict and clean fleets.

2. Emergence of the "Shadow Fleet"

• [03:57-06:11]
  • These mysterious tankers intentionally obscure their ownership, cargo, and destination, evading detection and sanctions.
  • Bjarne observes more and more of these "Shadow Fleet" ships every week.
  • Notable quotes:
    • "They are flying under the radar. They are trying to avoid that we know who is owning the ship, who is owning the cargo..." – Skinnerup [03:57]
    • "It's completely Wild West. What's going on at the moment." – Skinnerup [05:13]

3. How Western Sanctions Backfired

• [07:12-11:44]
  • Sanctions sought to limit Russia’s war chest without spiking global oil prices. The solution: a price cap ($60/barrel) for Russian oil, enforced mainly through marine insurance.
  • Russia responded by creating its own network of tankers (the "shadow fleet"), sidestepping established rules and insurers using convoluted legal structures and fake paperwork.
  • Notable background:
    • Before sanctions, Russian oil and gas generated half its federal revenue.

4. Building and Disguising the Shadow Fleet

• [13:09-19:32]
  • Middlemen buy old tankers, obscure true ownership via layers of shell companies, and use fake or permissive "flags of convenience."
    • "The owners are hidden behind Byzantine layer upon layer upon layer of special purpose vehicles..." – Michelle Bachman [14:05]
  • Many ships use fake or lightly regulated insurance, and flags from countries indifferent to enforcement—sometimes even flags from countries that don’t really offer shipping registries.
    • "You can have good flags like Liberia...And then you have permissive open registries..." – Bachman [17:51]
    • "If we use the license analogy, they've been handing them out like candy." – Bachman [18:21]

5. Legal and Practical Limits on Enforcement

• [19:52-23:20]
  • There’s no global "highway patrol" for the seas; enforcement is fragmented and limited by the UN’s "right of innocent passage."
    • Shadow vessels exploit this to slip through coastal waters virtually unopposed.
    • When Estonia tried to stop one, a Russian jet responded, underscoring the geopolitical risks.
      • "Don't mess with our ships." – Bachman [21:34]
  • Shadow ships engage in "dark" practices: going off GPS transponder, ship-to-ship oil transfers, flag and name changes to cover tracks.
    • The Boracay, a featured ship, has had 25 instances of "dark activity." [22:53]

6. Unintended Consequences and Global Winners

• [23:31-27:35]
  • Fragmenting the oil market has shifted trade patterns:
    • India and China ramped up Russian oil purchases at below-market prices.
    • Saudi Arabia buys Russian diesel cheaply, resells its own for more.
    • Middlemen profit via financing, ship sales, and laundering oil through global hubs like Dubai.
      • "The oil price cap has completely recalibrated global oil flows." – Bachman [26:26]

7. Is the Policy Working?

• [28:02-29:09]
  • Sanctions have forced Russia to sell oil at lower prices and spend billions ($15B) on building the shadow fleet.
  • However, as much Russian oil is still reaching global markets, but at lower Russian profits.
    • "They have earned less even though they've continued selling." – Bachman [28:49]

8. Catastrophic Risks Ahead

• [29:09-31:32]
  • The uninsured, aging fleet is a major environmental disaster waiting to happen.
    • "The dark fleet is an accident waiting to happen." – Bachman [29:23]
  • A recent example: a 27-year-old shadow ship exploded near Malaysia. No major spill occurred by luck.
    • If a major spill happens, locals (e.g., Danish taxpayers) will bear the cleanup cost.
    • "If we have something like that, it'll be terrible and there will be no one to pay then other than the Danish taxpayers." – Skinnerup [30:26]

9. The Pilot’s Dilemma—Personal and Ethical

• [30:38-31:54]
  • Bjarne continues his professional duty, piloting risky ships for the safety of waterways—even as he knows he’s abetting Russian oil exports and thus war funding.
    • "I'm actually making a living out of making sure that the oil from Russia is coming out. And that is also a very, very strange feeling...when I do a good job, I make sure that there are more artillery grenades, more drones, more killing in Ukraine." – Skinnerup [31:09]
  • He’s torn between keeping his coast safe and his conscience clean and feels powerless to change his predicament.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• [01:30]
  "If I'm bad tempered, I am most likely like Captain Haddock. But I don't have the same kind of drinking problem as he has." – Bjarne Skinnerup

• [05:13]
  "It's completely Wild West. What's going on at the moment." – Bjarne Skinnerup

• [14:05]
  "The owners are hidden behind Byzantine layer upon layer of special purpose vehicles..." – Michelle Bachman

• [18:21]
  "They've been handing them out like candy and taking the money, but they haven't been making sure that the license holder is able to comply..." – Michelle Bachman

• [21:34]
  "A Russian fighter jet came out to defend that vessel and briefly intercepted NATO airspace in a very strong signal to say, don't mess with our ships." – Michelle Bachman

• [22:53]
  "Yeah, [the Boracay] has had 25 different examples of dark activity. It's a very, very naughty ship." – Michelle Bachman

• [29:23]
  "The dark fleet is an accident waiting to happen. How there has not been an accident yet is beyond me." – Michelle Bachman

• [31:09]
  "When I do a good job, I make sure that there are more artillery grenades, more drones, more killing in Ukraine. So it's...yeah." – Bjarne Skinnerup

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:26-03:57]: Day in the life of a Danish maritime pilot and discovery of shadow fleet ships
• [04:10-05:13]: First mention and naming of the "Shadow Fleet"
• [07:12-09:52]: Introducing maritime intelligence methods, Michelle Bachman's ship tracking
• [11:44-13:45]: Sanctions, price cap, enforcement through insurance
• [14:05-16:08]: Assembling the shadow fleet through shell companies
• [16:25-18:15]: Fraudulent flags and insurance, "flags of convenience"
• [19:52-21:34]: Legal constraints, "innocent passage," and risks of enforcement
• [22:21-23:20]: "Going dark," ship-to-ship transfers, how shadow oil is laundered
• [25:52-27:35]: Who gains: China, India, Saudi Arabia, and the rise of Dubai as an oil hub
• [28:02-29:43]: Effectiveness of sanctions and growing disaster risk
• [30:20-31:54]: The pilot’s internal struggle, duty vs. ethics

Conclusion

This episode unpacks the unintended, global consequences of Western oil sanctions on Russia, revealing a shadowy web of aging, under-insured oil tankers that fuel not only the Russian war effort but a new era of regulatory and environmental risk. We hear from those on the front lines—maritime pilots and “ocean private eyes”—as they document a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game playing out on the world's seas, with ripple effects touching consumers, regulators, and everyone who lives near vulnerable coastlines.