Sawt Falasteen - New Zealand warned Pacific neighbour over oil smuggling 'shadow fleet'

The small Pacific island is home to a flourishing international shipping registry, allowing foreign vessels to sail under its flag for a modest fee of a few thousand dollars.

There is mounting evidence the archipelago has become a haven for foreign smugglers, who sail under the Cook Islands flag to escape scrutiny as they flout Western sanctions.

New Zealand officials in 2024 compiled a list of 19 tankers -- or "vessels of concern" -- that had been registered to the Cook Islands in recent years.

The list included the Arabesca, a crude oil tanker that frequently calls at Russian ports in the Baltic Sea.

The Arabesca was in 2025 blacklisted by the UK, Canada, Switzerland and the European Union for smuggling Russian oil.

Also named in New Zealand's list was a ship called the Maruti, a chemical tanker often seen sailing through the Persian Gulf.

The Maruti transported "hundreds of thousands of barrels" of Iranian naptha fuel while sailing under the Cook Islands' flag in 2025, according to a US sanctions notice published in December.

Both the Arabesca and the Maruti have since been deleted from the Cook Islands' shipping registry.

The Cook Islands has apparently brushed off New Zealand's concerns about some other vessels.

Of the 19 ships singled out by New Zealand in 2024, seven remained registered to the Cook Islands as of mid-January this year.

This included tankers the Bonetta and the Ocean Wave, which are suspected by the United States of hauling crude oil from Iran.

AFP could not reach the owners of the Arabesca, Maruti, Bonetta and Ocean Wave for comment.

New Zealand's list, released to AFP under freedom of information laws, was raised with Cook Islands through diplomatic channels in 2024.

- Shadow fleet -

Western sanctions aim to curb Iran and Russia cashing in on oil sales, limiting funding for Tehran's nuclear programme or Moscow's war machine.

New Zealand alleges the Cook Islands has been exploited by transnational maritime smuggling networks known as the "shadow fleet".

By registering in places such as the Cook Islands -- where they are subject to less stringent checks -- shadow fleet ships can disguise themselves as legitimate vessels.

Often the shipping registries are unaware of the ship's true purpose.

Cook Islands' links to sanctions evasion are a source of potential embarrasment to New Zealand, which once governed the Pacific nation of some 15,000 people.

New Zealand remains the Cook Islands' closest diplomatic partner and still has a constitutional responsibility to help with foreign affairs and defence.

"New Zealand has raised serious concerns directly with the Cook Islands government about the management of its shipping registry, including the flagging of shadow fleet vessels," New Zealand's foreign affairs department said.

Former Royal New Zealand Navy officer Mark Douglas said some 150 foreign tankers were registered in the Cook Islands at its busiest point in 2024.

"It certainly seemed at its peak that it was 'pay to play'," said Douglas, now an analyst for Starboard Maritime Intelligence.

"If you turned up with some good paperwork and the cheque cleared, you were able to get the Cook Islands' flag."

Cook Islands had since de-registered many of the most dubious vessels, Douglas said, but there were "some left that have question marks over them".

The UN-backed International Maritime Organisation currently lists 40 tankers registered to the Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands offers what is known as a "flag of convenience".

This means foreign ship owners can pay to sail under the flag without ever setting foot on the archipelago, halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.

"Many shadow fleet vessels use flags of convenience from countries that are either less inclined or unable to enforce Western sanctions," notes a European Parliament briefing from 2024.

The Cook Islands was one of the "top countries whose flags are used by shadow tankers transporting Russian crude oil", according to the report.

- Growing fast -

Shipping journal Lloyd's List in 2024 crowned Maritime Cook Islands the "fastest growing registry" in the world.

While Cook Islands' fees are opaque, the revenue generated by shipping licenses is modest.

Cook Islands budget documents estimate shipping registrations will bring in around US$50,000 this year.

Maritime Cook Islands did not reply to a request for comment.

The shipping registry has previously denied that it failed to conduct appropriate checks.

"The Cook Islands register has never harboured sanctioned vessels," Maritime Cook Islands told AFP in November last year.

"Any sanctioned vessels are deleted."

X.Habash--SF-PST