UAE bans Eswatini-flagged ships from entering the country

The United Arab Emirates has banned Eswatini-flagged ships from entering the country, having banned Cameroon-registered ships earlier in the year.

The Eswatini flag have been involved in the growing, so-called shadow or dark fleets transporting sanctioned oil.  

Eswatini, the landlocked southern African kingdom formerly known as Swaziland, has been in and out of the news since last year when the Eswatini Maritime Affairs and International Ship Registry was formed as a private company in Singapore. The International Maritime Organization has since listed a number of vessels that paid to flag with the African nation as ‘False Eswatini’. 

The flag was added to the list of flags of convenience tallied by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in May.