Tanker Deliver allowed to leave French waters after fine

Marseille – 23/07/2026: The tanker Deliver has left French territorial waters after its owning company paid a court-imposed fine. The Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office and the prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhone department announced this jointly on Thursday. The vessel had been detained near the port of Marseille-Fos since the end of June.

On Wednesday, July 22, the owning company was ordered by the Marseille Judicial Court to pay a financial penalty in a guilty plea procedure. The case concerned the lack of sufficient proof of the vessel’s nationality, constituting a violation of rules on valid flag registration. The amount of the penalty was not disclosed by the relevant authorities.

After the fine was paid, the authorities lifted the detention order. The 275-metre tanker flying the Cameroonian flag was then allowed to leave French territorial waters. The authorities gave no information on Thursday about the vessel’s subsequent course. The release thus ends the nearly month-long detention off the coast near Fos-sur-Mer.

The French navy stopped the Deliver off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean on June 23, 2026. According to the authorities, the operation was intended to inspect the vessel’s flag status, which is possible under certain conditions under international maritime law. The navy then escorted the vessel to the Marseille-Fos area, where the judiciary opened an investigation.

According to the published information, the Deliver had come from the Russian oil port of Primorsk near the Finnish border and was bound for Singapore. Its route was to pass through the Suez Canal. The vessel was also on a list published by the Cameroonian Ministry of Transport on May 29 of ships whose registration under the Cameroonian flag had been revoked.

French authorities suspected the Deliver of belonging to the so-called Russian shadow fleet. The term refers to tankers whose ownership and insurance structures or flag status are difficult to trace and which are allegedly used to transport oil while circumventing Western sanctions. The Deliver has been on the European Union sanctions list since February 2025.

According to French authorities, the Deliver is the fifth tanker France has stopped at sea in connection with this network since September 2025. Previously, the tankers Grinch, Deyna and Tagor, among others, had been inspected and temporarily detained. The case now concluded shows that French proceedings are aimed at sanctioning violations of flag and maritime law requirements.