Kathrine Frich
Fierce political and legal pushback awaits any Russian cargo that actually reaches the American coast.
Global trade relies on massive cargo ships moving like clockwork across the world’s oceans.
When a high-stakes political deal gets tangled up in legal rules, however, even a giant fuel carrier can end up drifting in circles.
Out in the open water, one closely watched voyage has suddenly hit the brakes.
Slowing in the Atlantic
According to Agentstvo News and United24 Media, the final tanker still hauling Russian diesel toward the United States has cut its speed in the North Atlantic and missed its scheduled November 7 arrival in New York.
Ship-tracking figures shared by Agentstvo show the vessel, named Agioi Fanendes, crept westward on Monday morning at roughly 6 to 6.5 knots. That is barely half the 10.7 knots that tracking service Trackipi clocked the ship doing back on October 28.
Earlier reporting from Reuters showed the ship was heading for New York with a November 7 target date. Now, maritime trackers MarineTraffic and VesselFinder simply mark its destination as “For Orders” and list no arrival time at all.
The stalled trip comes a month after US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on October 9 and announced a major fuel pact, United24 Media reported. Under that plan, Trump said Moscow would send more than 300,000 tons of diesel right away, add 500,000 tons in November, and follow up with another 1 million tons soon after.
Even though Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed last week that the US-bound ships were sticking to their planned paths, the reality at sea looks very different.
According to Agentstvo, three tankers originally left Russian ports for America carrying about 140,000 tons of fuel in total, but the other two have already bailed on their US routes, with the Talisman sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar toward Egypt’s El Dekheila port and the Leruo turning toward Brazil.
Fierce pushback onshore
Fierce political and legal pushback awaits any Russian cargo that actually reaches the American coast. As Agentstvo noted, a 2022 US law that bans imports of Russian oil products, including diesel, is still on the books, and senators from both parties quickly slammed the fuel arrangement after Trump announced it.
Local and national officials have already warned ports to keep the ships away. On October 26, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers told port bosses in New York, Houston, Corpus Christi, and Beaumont not to handle the Russian fuel and pointed out the legal risks, according to Agentstvo.
Three days later, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill told port and terminal operators in her state to reject the cargo or face possible civil and criminal penalties.
