Imagery Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
