Havana/An oil tanker with cargo entered Matanzas Bay this Monday and docked near the city’s energy logistics port in the midst of the US energy blockade of the Island, as confirmed by EFE.
It’s about the ship Nicos IVwith IMO identification code 9103843, flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 183 meters in length. Although it appears partially loaded (it has capacity for more than 300,000 barrels), the type and amount of fuel it carries is unknown.
If it came from a port outside of Cuba, it would be the first tanker to dock on the Island since the Ocean Mariner on January 9, which entered from Mexico with about 85,000 barrels.
The ship tracking platforms did not have the Nicos IV in a Cuban port in recent weeks, although it is possible that the ship was operating in the island’s waters without making its position known.
Ship tracking platforms did not have the Nicos IV registered in a Cuban port in recent weeks, although it is possible that the ship was operating in the island’s waters.
Nicos IV is not sanctioned by the United States, but it does have the status of “active surveillance” for a previous environmental crime and for having been linked in the past to the so-called “energy bridge” between Venezuela and Cuba.
According to recent US legal documents, this tanker belongs to the Greek shipping company Nicos IV Special Maritime Enterprises, a single-purpose company for the control of this ship, although its technical and commercial management is in charge of the Greek company Oceanic Shipmanagement Corp.
The United States has established an oil blockade on Cuba since January by closing the tap on Venezuelan oil and subsequently announcing by executive order tariffs for countries that supply crude oil to the Island, although in recent days the possibility has been discussed – several sources told The Economist – that Washington would authorize a shipment of diesel and liquefied gas to alleviate the situation.
Mexico, Chile and Spain have announced the sending of humanitarian aid to the Island, although so far only the first has arrived, since the other two plan to channel it through international organizations. Russia has announced that it is studying sending oil, although it has preferred not to give details in order to preserve the operation.
Cuba barely produces a third of the around 110,000 barrels of oil per day that it needs, so the Government has implemented a very tough emergency plan that has left health and transportation at minimum services, ended face-to-face classes at the university, established teleworking and restricted hours in state offices, and severely rationed fuel.
