A 32-year-old British expat living in Singapore has a front-row seat to witness the illicit oil trade that has recently come to a head in the western hemisphere.
Remy Osman, who works as a food and beverage salesman, has been surveilling the Singapore Strait from the rooftop of his apartment building to photograph the so-called "shadow vessels" or "ghost ships." He said that he has seen over 100 of such tankers, which are suspected of fueling Russia's war in Ukraine and even terrorist groups through a black market.
In an interview with Katie Pavlich Tonight, ha said, "People have asked me, 'Can you see these shadow fleet tankers, which you read about on the news?' And, sure enough, when I started looking, actually, yes, you can. They're huge vessels."
According to Osman, he uses software to track the ships and through identifications the ship operators must broadcast to pass through the strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world that connects the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
Approximately, 100,000 ships pass through these waters each year, together carrying roughly one third of all goods traded globally.
The strait is also so physically close to Singapore, a dense city home to roughly six million people, that Osman can see passing vessels and take photos or videos of them with just an iPhone.
Osman's strange hobby started during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he had to spend two weeks in quarantine after arriving in Singapore. With little to do, he began watching ships pass by from the balcony of his hotel room and started posting about the vessels he spotted online.
However, it was only about a year ago that Osman began focusing on so-called shadow vessels as he noticed that many of his followers were quite curious about these secretive fleets.
Since then, interest in his page has grown quickly, especially as shadow fleets have been making headlines in recent months. One of his Instagram videos posted last August has been viewed more than 2 million times.
In the recent months, the sanctioned oil tankers have been closely watched by the US government. This happened during the standoff between the United States and Venezuela, when the Trump administration sent military forces to the Caribbean.
The tensions ended with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro being captured on drug-related charges, and US forces later seized several ships linked to Venezuela.
When asked if his hobby of tracking tankers might attract the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Osman said that he was not worried, adding that Singapore is a safe country.
"I kind of feel like I've gone a bit too deep. So, I'm just going to keep doing it," he said.
