Russian-linked ships involved in illegal cargo transportation often get their crews to crudely obscure the ships' identities, contravening laws established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Yörük Işık, who specializes in spotting ships along the Bosporus, stated this to industry publication Splash, the CFTS portal reports.
According to Işık, he has tracked "dozens" of ships with their original names - and even IMO numbers - painted over.
Işık told Splash that Russians increasingly do not care what the repainted ship names look like.
"There are more and more homemade efforts to write names, ridiculously small, crooked, or written by people unfamiliar with Latin letters," Işık said.
Işık has captured many images of passing ships with questionable backgrounds or identities on the X social network. One example was Murmansk Shipping's Russian-flagged bulk carrier Grumant, which recently transited the Bosporus to occupied Sevastopol after delivering 20,000 tons of stolen wheat to Tartus in Syria. The bulk carrier passed through the Bosporus with the first four letters of its name removed and its company logo painted over.
An IMO spokesperson told Splash that SOLAS regulation XI-1/3 requires that ship identification numbers be permanently marked in a conspicuous place on either the hull or the superstructure of the ship.
States - in their capacity as flag, port, or coastal states - are responsible for enforcing the regulation.
IMO Resolution A.1162(32) also urges governments to take all measures within the scope of their national laws to prevent and suppress all forms of maritime fraud and to cooperate fully in the sharing of information for this purpose.
