Tongan maritime authorities are probing reports that at least ten sanctioned vessels operating in the East and South China seas are falsely flying Tonga’s flag.

Matangi Tonga understands that the Prime Minister Lord Fakafanua has been briefed on the issue by the newly appointed Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Semisi Sika, who assumed the role just this month.

An official statement is expected next week as Tonga clarifies its position, noting these days the kingdom maintains only a domestic ship registry.

Tonga closed its International Ship Registry in 2002 after Tongan registered ships were used by groups [2] with alleged links to terrorist organisations

Radio New Zealand International reported [3] this morning that Pacific false flags are flying high amongst sanctioned oil tankers potentially carrying Russian, Iranian, or Venezuelan crude oil.

At least ten sanctioned vessels tracking in the East China and South China seas are falsely flying under the flag of Tonga, according to Wellington-based Starboard Maritime Intelligence.

Starboard analyst Mark Douglas told RNZ Pacific it would be highly unusual for Tonga to flag oil tankers, given their ship registry closed in 2002.

"It's just not something that Tonga is known for doing.... if they don't have insurance and they're not well maintained, if there's an accident it would be in the hands of the flag state to fix that problem," he said.

Douglas told RNZ Pacific that the vessels tracked through a Malaysian port at East Johor, which according to reporting by Bloomberg last year was a notorious place for Iranian crude oil to be rebranded] as Malaysian, before being exported to China.

Another, Douglas said, had made it to the Norwegian Sea headed for Russia.

The ten vessels are subject to sanctions by the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, among others.

Douglas said the vessels had shadow fleet hallmarks, transmitting false identity signals to skirt authorities.
He said these vessels can easily transmit a false identity, doing so through the global Automatic Identification System (AIS), which port authorities use to stop ships from running into each other.

The first three digits of a vessel's Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number identify a country's flag.

Though Tonga, the Cooks or any other country wouldn't face any direct repercussions for another vessel's false-flagging, Douglas noted it could risk reputational damage if the false AIS data were reported widely.

Meanwhile, Lloyd's List website [4] reported in July last year that their investigation had revealed the connections between the rapidly growing number of fraudulent ship registries being used by hundreds of sanctioned ships globally. Tonga and Fiji were named on the list - with unauthorised use of the countries' names.