Satellite Data Reveals Initial Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are currently targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
