Iranian VLCC in the spotlight switches destination to Turkey

The Adrian Darya-1, the world’s most tracked ship over the past week, has changed its destination. 

The Iranian VLCC, formerly known as Grace 1, was freed by Gibraltar authorities last weekend after six weeks’ detention for carrying oil bound for sanctions-hit Syria. 

The fully laden tanker has been heading east all week through the Mediterranean with its initial destination flagged as Kalamata in Greece. However, Greek authorities said the ship had not made any plans to call at Kalamata. The United States has told all Mediterranean ports not to assist the ship, as the deems the vessel to be linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which is deemed as a terrorist organisation in Washington.

The tanker is now passing south of Sicily and overnight on Friday it switched its destination from Kalamata to Mersin in Turkey.