OCEAN: US Strikes Venezuelan Boats & more – 6th Jan 2026

Ahoy from BA! This is the Rorshok Ocean Update from the 6th of January twenty twenty-six. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

Let’s kick off this edition with the dispute between the U.S. and Venezuela. The U.S. military said it struck five suspected smuggling boats in two days, killing eight suspected smugglers.

On Tuesday, the 30th, the U.S. military attacked three boats carrying narcotics. Three individuals were killed, and others jumped into the water. The U.S. Coast Guard activated search and rescue operations but did not specify if those who jumped were rescued.

The following day, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy forces attacked two boats suspected of carrying illegal fuel, after attempts to stop them failed, resulting in five deaths.

Meanwhile, several oil tankers headed to Venezuela have been rerouted or turned back at sea, as U.S. naval forces implement a quarantine-style blockade to enforce sanctions on Venezuelan crude shipments.

By Friday, the 2nd of January, ship movement data shows at least eleven ships reversing course or stopping at sea. To reduce the risk of interception, seizure, or boarding, owners and charterers are increasingly choosing to keep some tankers waiting offshore or bringing them back to their home ports in Africa and the Caribbean.

Most of the country’s oil is produced in the Orinoco Basin, which experienced a 25% decline on Monday, the 29th of December, compared to mid-December.

After being the first country ever to export more than ten million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas or LNG in a single month (something we mentioned in a previous show), the U.S. became the first country in history to export over one hundred million metric tons of LNG in a single year.

The U.S. has shipped a record 111 million tons, about twenty million more than second-place Qatar and twenty-three million above the U.S.’s twenty twenty-four total. U.S. LNG exports accounted for nearly one-quarter of global trade, with Europe remaining the largest market.

The milestone reflects high utilisation of existing facilities, new export capacity, and buyers reducing their purchases from Russia.

In terms of global LNG export, Sing Yee Ong shared on the Bloomberg news outlet that global exports of LNG in twenty twenty-five probably experienced the largest increase in three years.

As new facilities started operating and existing plants increased their production, LNG exports in twenty twenty-five are estimated to have grown by about 4%. Major contributors to this growth were North American projects, particularly LNG Canada and the U.S. Plaquemines export terminal, which helped increase shipments and established the U.S. as the top global LNG exporter.

China and Japan were the largest buyers worldwide this year. The increase in supply is likely to put downward pressure on gas prices in Asia and Europe.

Meanwhile, an Iran-linked oil tanker painted a Russian flag and claimed protection by Russia after refusing a seizure operation by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The ship loaded Iranian crude at Kharg Island in September and then remained undetected for two months near the Strait of Hormuz. When signals resumed, the tanker was found empty, which probably means it transferred its cargo to other ships while out at sea. The vessel entered the Atlantic in early December, and its transponder has been off since Wednesday, the 17th.

After the U.S. Coast Guard obtained a court order to seize the ship due to its history of transporting Iranian crude, personnel attempted to intercept it on Sunday, the 21st. However, the ship refused to stop and evaded the Coast Guard for over ten days. When it reappeared on Wednesday, the 31st, tracking data showed it had been officially re-registered in Russia.

On the same day, Russia formally asked the U.S. to end the pursuit.

Regarding Russia’s shipping, Russia’s Northern Sea Route has become a major route for the global shadow fleet of sanctioned tankers in twenty twenty-five.

Approximately one hundred sanctioned vessels are now using the Arctic shortcut, a significant increase from only thirteen in twenty twenty-four. Many of these ships are older tankers lacking proper ice-class certification, valid insurance, or having their transponders turned off to hide their routes, evading Western sanctions. Operators often utilize complex ownership structures and flags of convenience, hiding their activities in Arctic waters. Russian authorities also stopped publishing accurate shipping activity records on this route.

To know more about this story, check out the Rorshok Arctic Update with the link in the show notes!

Next up, The US Coast Guard has signed contracts with Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions to build Arctic Security Cutter icebreakers because U.S. shipyards lack recent experience building specialized icebreakers.

Finland will build and deliver the first two icebreakers by twenty twenty-eight, while the U.S. plans to build four additional icebreakers domestically by twenty twenty-nine, using Finnish-Canadian designs, Finnish expertise, and support.

The U.S. now has only three Arctic-capable icebreakers, compared to Russia's forty to fifty and China's four to five. To move forward with the contracts, President Trump decided to waive the usual legal requirement that naval army ships must be built in the U.S.

More on Finland, as its authorities seized a cargo ship after finding an undersea telecommunications cable connecting Finland and Estonia in the Gulf of Finland damaged on Wednesday, the 31st.

The vessel under the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines flag was on its way from Russia to Israel when its anchor was seen dragging along the seabed close to the cable route. Finnish police and Border Guard directed the vessel into Finnish waters, seized the ship and its fourteen crew members as part of an investigation into serious criminal damage and interference with telecommunications. Two crew members have been arrested and travel bans have been placed on two others.

Whether the incident was deliberate or not is still under investigation.

Unlike the U.S., Canadian authorities see the Arctic as a good place for oceanographic research.

As the amount of Arctic sea ice continues to drop due to climate change, the long-frozen waters of the Canadian High Arctic have become navigable for the first time, allowing icebreakers to enter and explore previously inaccessible areas. Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of Manitoba documented extensive ice melt and increased open water, expanding seasonal navigation.

On another note, India has launched a five-billion-dollar shipbuilding strategy to expand its domestic naval and commercial shipyard base, reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, and challenge China’s dominance in global shipbuilding.

The plan includes three billion dollars in direct subsidies for shipbuilding and over two billion dollars for yard infrastructure, supporting the construction of warships, submarines, and large commercial vessels across Indian yards. India’s goal is to enter the global top ten in shipbuilding and ship ownership by twenty thirty, and to reach the top five by twenty forty-seven.

The strategy will be active until twenty thirty-six, with a potential extension to twenty forty-seven.

In an update to a story from our last show, China ended its military exercise around Taiwan on Wednesday, the 31st.

During the exercise, seventy-seven Chinese military planes and twenty-five navy ships operated around Taiwan. Among these, thirty-five military aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwanese authorities stayed on high alert afterward, continuing emergency maritime monitoring as many Chinese vessels and aircraft stayed in nearby waters.

Taiwan’s defence ministry criticized the drills for potentially destabilizing the region, while Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the goal of reunification shortly after the drills’ end.

And to close this edition, on Thursday, the 1st of January, a U.S. Navy supply ship rescued three Filipino fishermen after they had been drifting in the South China Sea for five days.

The boat experienced engine problems and was hit by heavy waves during its return from fishing. The fishermen held onto the wreckage since the vessel flooded. Luckily, they had enough food and water to survive. The U.S. Navy sent an inflatable boat to rescue them. The three fishermen were later checked by U.S. medical personnel. Then, they were transferred to a Philippine Coast Guard ship for their journey home.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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