Frontline Atlas
Shadow Fleet Investigation
SIG-2026-002 · Apr 17, 2026
Evasion infrastructure · flag tier × classification · Series VI — 1,931-vessel dataset

The architecture of evasion

Flag state and classification society are the two primary evasion variables. Flag determines regulatory jurisdiction; classification society determines whether a hull is legible to global maritime insurance and port-state-control systems. The fleet's two-layer evasion structure — move to a permissive flag, drop recognized classification — is visible in every tier.

Total vessels
1,931
Apr 13, 2026 dataset
No recognized class
1,397
72% of fleet — Unknown/None
Russian Maritime Reg.
304
Non-IACS — Russia/Africa FOC tier
Investigation targets
54
FleetLeaks annotated
Classifiers tracked
13
across full fleet
01 — Flag tier → classification society · bilateral flow
NOTE — The "Other / Unclassified" flag tier (868 vessels) is disproportionately large in this dataset because 486 GUR-only vessels and 72 FL+GUR vessels lack confirmed flag_tier assignment in the source data. Their flag tier is not unknown — it is simply unresolved at this stage of enrichment. TankerTrackers-sourced vessels (1,352 vessels) carry full flag tier coding.
Domestic (Ru/IR/KP) African FOC Caribbean/Pacific FOC Traditional FOC Permissive (Oman/HK/AZ/VN) Other/Unclassified IACS-certified Russian / non-IACS Investigation target
1. Frontline Atlas Shadow Fleet Master Dataset (20260413). 1,931 vessels: TankerTrackers.com (Mar 27, 2026 pull), FleetLeaks (Mar 10, 2026 pull), GUR War and Sanctions Portal (Apr 13, 2026 pull). IMO number as primary key.
2. Flag tier taxonomy: domestic = Russia/Iran/DPRK domestic registry; africa_foc = Cameroon/Sierra Leone/Togo/Gabon/Comoros; carib_foc = Belize/Cook Islands/Kiribati/Tuvalu; trad_foc = Panama/Liberia/Marshall Islands/Bahamas/Cyprus; permissive = Oman/Hong Kong/Azerbaijan/Vietnam. Other/Unclassified includes 868 vessels with incomplete flag_tier coding, predominantly GUR-only dataset entries.
3. Classification: Russian Maritime Register of Shipping = non-IACS. Indian Register of Shipping, ABS, DNV-GL, Lloyd's Register, RINA, NK, CCS, Bureau Veritas = IACS members. Unknown/None = no recognized classification society on record.
4. Investigation targets (54) = fl_investigation_target = 1 in FleetLeaks source data. Wagner/GRU crew annotations per OCCRP and FleetLeaks cross-reference.