Imagery Image Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
