Satellite tv for pc photographs newly obtained by Bellingcat make clear how a stranded barge on the centre of a significant oil spill ended up aground and leaking oil off the Tobago coast.
Bellingcat tracked the vessel, and the tugboat Trinidad and Tobago authorities recognized as its seafaring engine, alongside an ill-fated, five-week journey utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery and Computerized Identification System location (AIS) knowledge. Included on the journey was a go to to Pozuelo’s Bay, Venezuela whereas the vessel had gone darkish by turning off its AIS transmissions, as first reported by Tanker Trackers, an unbiased service which tracks oil shipments world wide.
Pozuelo’s Bay is the positioning of a significant port for the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and can also be utilized by PDVSA for ship-to-ship oil transfers. Imagery found by Bellingcat reveals that the barge started leaking oil as early as February 3, instantly after leaving Pozuelo’s Bay, and that it seems to have capsized by the morning of February 6.
Tobago authorities have known as on these liable for the barge to return ahead and face accountability. As of late final week, the oil slick ensuing from the spill prolonged some 90 miles into the Caribbean.
Bellingcat beforehand recognized the barge, which ran aground off the island’s coast earlier this month, because the Gulfstream, previously affiliated with a tugboat known as the Marlin. One essential newly found piece of data, gleaned from Google Avenue View, is that the Gulfstream was quietly rechristened someday earlier than 2018. Its new title: the Sea Marlin.
Monitoring the Barge’s Journey to Tobago
In response to Trinidad and Tobago authorities, the Gulfstream was towed by a tugboat named the Solo Creed, on a journey that was sure for Guyana from Panama earlier than it turned stranded off the coast of the Caribbean nation. Utilizing AIS knowledge and satellite tv for pc imagery, Bellingcat was capable of comply with the Solo Creed and Gulfstream on virtually day-after-day of their doomed voyage.
In early 2023, satellite tv for pc imagery confirmed the Gulfstream docked within the metropolis of Colón, Panama, close to the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. In June 2023, imagery from Planet Labs reveals that the Gulfstream was moved from a pier referred to as Muelle 3 to a casual harbour simply to the south, the place it was laid up alongside a seaside till the Solo Creed joined it and commenced the journey to Tobago. (For ease of understanding, we’re referring to the Gulfstream by its longtime former title, versus the Sea Marlin.)
A Planet Labs satellite tv for pc picture from December 30, 2023 reveals the Gulfstream being pushed into the harbour by the Solo Creed. The Solo Creed’s place was verified with AIS knowledge, whereas the distinctive notch and measurement of the Gulfstream is a visible match for the barge Bellingcat has beforehand reported.
After spending a couple of days anchored off Colón, AIS knowledge reveals the ships started to journey east in direction of Venezuela. Presently, the Solo Creed switched from “towing alongside,” which is extra manoeuvrable, to utilizing a “lengthy tow,” which is extra environment friendly.
From January 17 to January 22, the Solo Creed and Gulfstream loitered offshore close to Amuay, Venezuela. On January 18, they had been captured by a Planet SkySat high-res satellite tv for pc, seemingly tasked over open sea. The picture is at a slight off-nadir angle that permits the aspect of the vessel to be seen, indicating that the Gulfstream was doubtless unladen presently.
On January 22, the Solo Creed disabled its AIS system, in keeping with publicly obtainable knowledge. AIS is a system whereby ships broadcast their positions through transceivers in order that vessel visitors providers can monitor their actions. Vessels cease transmitting AIS knowledge for a lot of causes, a few of that are legit, similar to to deal with technical points. Nevertheless, the deliberate disabling of AIS with out legit trigger is taken into account a misleading delivery apply.
The Solo Creed didn’t re-enable its AIS till February 4, at which level it had travelled about 375 nautical miles. In response to Tanker Trackers, this distance would usually take about three days to journey.
Tanker Trackers situated the Gulfstream in Pozuelo’s Bay, Venezuela, a significant petroleum port, on January 26. Whereas in Pozuelo’s Bay, the Solo Creed switched again to utilizing a towing alongside setup. Bellingcat was additionally capable of find and visually match the Gulfstream close to this location in Pozuelo’s Bay on January 27, 29, 30 and 31.
On February 3, after leaving Pozuelo’s Bay, imagery from Planet Labs PBC captured the barge and tug heading northeast, with the barge once more on an extended tow. Notably, the barge already seems to be leaking an oily fluid, abandoning a slick that stretches for not less than 40 kilometres.
Such an oil path couldn’t be seen earlier, indicating that it’s potential that the barge took on oil from Venezuela whereas in Pozuelo’s Bay. There are a number of main refineries of the PDVSA situated there, and it’s also a typical location for ship-to-ship transfers, which might be used to surreptitiously keep away from sanctions. Whereas Bellingcat didn’t observe the Gulfstream docking or partaking in a ship-to-ship switch in Pozuelo’s Bay, imagery was not obtainable for day-after-day. Sanctions on Venezuelan oil have been partially lifted since October 2023, and it isn’t clear why the Gulfstream would take measures to cover actions.
That the Gulfstream was doubtless already leaking oil on February 3 might point out that one thing had already gone awry with the voyage or replicate the final stage of upkeep of the vessel. Previous to this journey, it had spent eight months docked after which seven months beached alongside a stretch of undeveloped shoreline used as a casual harbour in Colón.
The chief engineer of the Gulfstream from 1996 to 2010, Martin Malia, instructed Bellingcat in an interview that when it was beforehand operated by Penn Marine in america, the vessel had been used for carrying asphalt. He famous that asphalt have to be saved heated in transport, and the frequent thermal biking brought about cracks to type within the cargo tanks. Malia additionally stated that because the vessel aged these cracks turned extra frequent, contributing to Penn Marine’s resolution to promote the Gulfstream.
On February sixth at 14:41 UTC, Planet Labs PBC imagery captured the Gulfstream seemingly capsized with a big oil slick round it, roughly 16 nautical miles southeast of Tobago.
Over the next evening, the barge drifted northwest till it ran aground on the reef at Cove, Tobago.
Bellingcat recognized dozens of satellite tv for pc photographs that present the Gulfstream and Solo Creed from December 30, 2023 till February 7, 2024. The complete checklist of areas and dates is obtainable on this Google Sheet.
The Gulfstream Turns into the Sea Marlin
As beforehand reported by Bellingcat, the Gulfstream and its married tug, the Marlin, had been bought to the Panamanian firm San Martin Group Ltd in October 2012. AIS vessel monitoring knowledge present that the Marlin travelled first to Colón, Panama, after which to Venezuela after this buy, the place it operated for a number of years, steadily visiting oil terminals owned by PDVSA.
In October 2020, AIS data present the Marlin and the distinctive Gulfstream arrived on the ASTINAVE shipyard in Amuay, Venezuela. In March 2021, data within the vessel possession database Equasis present that the Marlin was bought to a different Panamanian firm, Star Items Petroleum SA. Bellingcat beforehand reported that it was final seen close to Amuay on February 22, 2022. Newly found open supply info tells the remainder of the story.
Satellite tv for pc photographs from Planet Labs present that the Gulfstream barge arrived in Colón, Panama between September 13 and September 21, 2022. Excessive decision imagery obtainable on Google Earth in October reveals that it’s the similar Gulfstream barge final seen in February 2022 at ASTINAVE shipyard.
AIS knowledge reveals {that a} tug boat named the Sea Voyager (IMO 7417317) additionally arrived in the identical time vary and was energetic close to the pier the place the Gulfstream was docked.
Utilizing AIS data, Bellingcat adopted the Sea Voyager’s journey historical past and located that, in June 2022, it sailed from Colón to a spot offshore from Amuay, Venezuela, earlier than returning to Colón. Imagery from Planet Labs from June 10, 2022 reveals the Gulfstream barge, with out its former Marlin tug, floating close to the Sea Voyager’s turn-around level. The distinctive notch within the hull is seen in satellite tv for pc imagery, and that is close to the ASTINAVE shipyard the place the ship was docked till not less than February 22, 2022.
The Sea Voyager can also be seen on the location indicated by the AIS observe. The Sea Voyager’s observe reveals that it returns to Colón with the Gulfstream, captured by Sentinel-2 imagery on July third.
For the subsequent a number of months, the Sea Voyager and Gulfstream operated offshore from Colón, Panama. AIS data counsel that they probably engaged in bunkering or ship-to-ship oil transfers, certainly one of which was caught by Planet Labs imagery on July 12, 2022.
Lastly, the Gulfstream and the Sea Voyager arrived on the pier named Muelle 3 in Colón on September 13, 2022. Ten days after arriving at Muelle 3, on September 23, the Sea Voyager modified its flag from Guyana to Tanzania. (The Worldwide Transport Employees’ Federation categorises Tanzania’s as a flag of comfort (FOC), a time period for flags that vessels usually sail below to keep away from regulatory scrutiny; some consultants have additionally recognized Guyana’s as an FOC.)
An image of Colón posted by David Stanley on Flickr reveals the Gulfstream at its berth in Muelle 3. The picture has EXIF metadata indicating it was taken on December 14, 2022, which is in line with the timeline established by satellite tv for pc imagery. The ship’s superstructure and attribute vertical couplers close to the notch on the stern match images of the Gulfstream beforehand reported by Bellingcat.
After it arrived in September, the Gulfstream stayed in Colón for the subsequent 15 months, first at Muelle 3 after which beached alongside a stretch of shoreline that seems to function a casual shipyard. The Sea Voyager continued to function till January 2023, when it sank 50 nautical miles west of Cartagena, Colombia. Each the Sea Voyager and the Solo Creed are Tanzania-flagged tug boats beforehand operated by Crowley Maritime in america, and each had been inbuilt 1976. (Crowley didn’t reply to a request for remark).
Google Avenue View imagery from November 2022 photographed the streets surrounding Muelle 3. Whereas the port terminal is surrounded by a excessive wall, a part of the Gulfstream continues to be seen. Its new title, the Sea Marlin, might be seen, although it’s partially obscured by a protecting pole with barbed wire extending alongside the port terminal wall.
Whereas the barge was now crusing below its new title, satellite tv for pc imagery of the dock throughout November displaying the vessel’s distinctive form, and visible matches with the ship’s superstructure determine that it’s the similar barge beforehand referred to as Gulfstream. Moreover, the Maritime and Offshore Listing lists the Tug Marlin and the barge Sea Marlin below the identical IMO quantity beforehand related to the Marlin and Gulfstream.
Video footage launched by authorities in Tobago on Friday reveals that the previous title found by divers was written on the hull of the vessel in a weld bead.
Because of this, regardless of the title Gulfstream having been painted over when the vessel was renamed Sea Marlin, the unique title remained welded onto the hull for divers to find. It’s unclear if the title Sea Marlin stays on the ship or if that, too, has since been painted over.
Throughout a press convention on 14 February, Farley Augustine, the Chief Secretary of Tobago, stated that Gulfstream “is probably an older title, the unique title,” probably as a result of divers famous that the weld bead letters had been painted over.
Utilizing the title Sea Marlin, Bellingcat linked the barge and its tug previously referred to as the Marlin to a bunch of firms known as Sea Vitality Group. In response to Panamanian enterprise register knowledge, the president of San Martin Group Ltd., the agency that acquired the Gulfstream in 2012, is Jorge Rincon. He’s additionally a director at Sea Vitality Group, in keeping with his LinkedIn profile. Rincon didn’t reply to a request for remark, whereas Sea Vitality Group’s web site is now defunct.
In a submit on LinkedIn from 3 September 2018, Sea Vitality Group marketed their “three barges working collectively for you!” These embody the Sea Lion, the Sea Gentle, and sandwiched between them the Gulfstream, now re-christened Sea Marlin, with its tug Marlin, now rechristened Tug Marlin.
One other submit on LinkedIn, on 19 October 2018, incorporates a video displaying the Tug Marlin and the Gulfstream (Sea Marlin) leaving a dock.
Bellingcat geolocated this video to the PDVSA Puerto Miranda Terminal in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Whereas the video was posted on October 19, 2018, satellite tv for pc imagery reveals that it was filmed earlier, probably round 2016 to 2017, when the vessel was steadily docked at this pier.
Throughout its time owned by Sea Vitality Group, the Tug Marlin constantly transmitted AIS location info, displaying it steadily visited PDVSA ports in Maracaibo and Amuay.
In 2020, 100,000 barrels of gasoline had been auctioned off by a US federal courtroom after suspicions that Sea Vitality Group would transport it to Venezuela. Sea Vitality chartered a vessel to hold gasoline from Panama to Aruba, the place it requested that the vessel offload it through ship-to-ship switch to a different vessel, the Magnificence One, which steadily visited Venezuela.
As reported by Reuters, the proprietor of the chartered vessel “sought assurance from Sea Vitality [that] the gasoline wouldn’t go to Venezuela, however didn’t obtain a passable response.” Regardless of Venezuela’s standing as a significant oil-producing nation, its refinery capability is proscribed, and Venezuela has struggled with gasoline shortages lately.
In June 2020, the Sea Lion, one other barge owned by the Sea Vitality Group and pictured above, brought about an oil spill close to the Panama Canal. A courtroom case reviews that the Panama Maritime Authority discovered the Sea Lion “had a number of irregularities, together with oil, gasoline and wastewater leaks, poor bilge administration and repeatedly ignoring the manuals that correspond to the prevention of fires and accidents.”
The Panama Maritime Authority described the Sea Lion as “a hazard to navigation and the marine setting” and sanctioned Sea Vitality with a revocation of its licence, although this was re-granted one yr later. Shortly after the licence revocation, in October 2020, the Gulfstream/Sea Marlin arrived at ASTINAVE Shipyard, as beforehand reported by Bellingcat.
Discovering the Solo Creed
Trinidad and Tobago authorities have recognized a tugboat named the Solo Creed because the vessel that escorted the Gulfstream/Sea Marlin on its remaining, disastrous journey.
The one {photograph} of the Solo Creed on maritime analytics web site Marine Site visitors, the place customers can add photographs of vessels, was posted on December twenty fourth, 2023, only a few days earlier than the tugboat and the Gulfstream/Sea Marlin departed on their remaining voyage. The {photograph} was uploaded by a consumer with the title “Melaj Offshore Company.”
Bellingcat verified the situation of the picture in Colón, between Muelle 3 and the small seaside the place the Gulfstream spent seven months laid up at a casual harbour. This is identical location the place the barge’s remaining voyage started.
Turkish delivery administration firm Mahi Transport, formally referred to as Mahinour Gida Denizcilik Ithalat Ihracat Sanayi Ve Ticaret LTD STI, lists the Solo Creed among the many vessels it has labeled on their web site. Ship classification is the method whereby a vessel is licensed for complying with related regulatory and upkeep requirements.
“With regard to the administration of the Solo Creed, there isn’t a info that any deficiency or flaw with that vessel had any relationship with the oil spill,” Mahi Transport stated, in an emailed assertion. “We’re sorry we now have no sources to proceed with this forth and again over a state of affairs that isn’t in our hand or jurisdiction.”
On Friday, Tobago Home of Meeting Chief Secretary Farley Augustine stated in a press convention, “These unanswered questions stay unanswered at this level. Resembling, primary, who’s the proprietor of the vessel that ran aground in Tobago and is leaking oil?” The individuals of Tobago are nonetheless ready for a solution.
Extra analysis by Mikael Hoffman and members of Bellingcat’s Discord neighborhood.
