🚢 Windward's Ship of the Day: Boracay (IMO 9332810). This false-flagged, Russia-trading tanker made headlines after Denmark named it as one of 3 ships possibly used as a launch point for drones that closed Copenhagen’s airport last week. 🧵👇 https://abcnews.go.com/Interna...
2. At around 18:30 on Sept 22, when drones intruded at Copenhagen airport, Windward Maritime AI™ shows Boracay was sailing within 70 nautical miles.
3. 10 hours earlier, it had changed its name from Pushpa and switched flags from fraudulent Malawi to fraudulent Benin.
4. That makes Boracay, now carrying 750,000 barrels of Urals crude, effectively flagless, lawless & stateless as it sails NW European waters under “innocent passage.” Any class or insurance it may hold is invalid.
5.🛢️ Built in 2007, Boracay has been Russia-trading since Nov 2022, after joining the dark fleet via Gatik Ship Management.
6. Between 2022–2023, Gatik spent $1.5B assembling a fleet of 50+ tankers for sanctions evasion. The EU sanctioned Gatik in June 2024. The UK sanctioned Boracay in Oct 2024, followed by the EU in Feb 2025. The ship was identified as being high-risk by Windward in 2023.
7. Since entering the dark fleet, Boracay/Pushpa has had 9 ISM managers, 4 registered owners & 3 commercial controllers across Seychelles, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, India, UAE, Singapore & Turkey.
8. The ship has cycled through 5 names, 7 flags & was detained in Estonia in Apr 2025. Authorities found 40+ deficiencies on Boracay, then known as Kiwala, while it was en route to Russia under a false flag. https://www.euronews.com/my-eu...
9. Windward linked Boracay to Coral Energy (later 2Rivers) as its commercial controller for 14 months until Dec 2024. Both the UK & EU sanctioned Coral Energy/2Rivers for shipping Rosneft cargoes, mainly to India. https://www.reuters.com/busine...
10. Windward has tracked 25+ dark activities: STS transfers with sanctioned ships & repeated Russian port calls. Boracay has traded almost exclusively in Russian crude for 3 years.
11. As of Sept 26, the IMO database still shows Boracay as Pushpa under Malawi’s flag, showing how official systems struggle to keep pace with constant, deliberate flag-hopping and obfuscation.
12. Boracay’s shifting identities and disregard for maritime laws and conventions underscore how the dark fleet outpaces sanctions enforcement and complicates security.
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