Madagascar and Landlocked Zimbabwe Warn IMO of False Flags
The scourge of false flag operations continues to pop up, moving from country to country, with Madagascar and Zimbabwe being the latest to issue alerts to the International Maritime Organization and other regulatory bodies. They follow the African nation of Cameroon, which said it was suspending international registrations, and recent warnings from South Pacific nations, including Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, and Tonga.
Madagascar, in its notice to the IMO dated February 9, highlights that the “common characteristics” of the effort, including fraudulent telephone numbers and email addresses, “suggested an organized operating method.” It notes that there are no links to any of the authorized organizations that Madagascar uses for statutory certificates.
Observers have recently noted shadow tankers displaying Madagascar as their registry, and the government reports it became aware of the situation at the end of 2025. It says organizations, including Starshell Marine, S&P Global, the Tokyo MOU, and the Turkish MRCC, had submitted documents for verification. Madagascar identified them as “forged certificates” and false registrations claiming the Malagasy flag.
It notes the common identification of “International Maritime Registry,” while no such entity exists under Malagasy law. It warns that these documents have no legal basis.
Reviewing the situation, it identified nine tankers that specifically have made the claim to its flag. It further warns that there could be additional vessels.
The government reports it is monitoring the registration fraud and lodged a complaint with its judicial authorities. It has also handed the matter over to its ministries of justice and foreign affairs.
The Equasis database currently lists 25 vessels, almost exclusively tankers, as claiming a false Malagasy flag. Madagascar has 136 ships that are legitimately registered, according to the database.
Zimbabwe, which is a landlocked nation in central Africa, has no legally registered ocean-going ships and does not have a Registrar of Ships or a Zimbabwe Maritime Authority. However, it received inquiries about a tanker named Range Vale claiming to be registered in the country. It declares to the IMO that there is no such organization as a “Maritime Authority” in Zimbabwe.
The Range Vale (111,775 dwt) tanker, built in 2005, is reported to be owned by a company in St. Kitts & Nevis. Equasis lists the vessel as flag-hopping through a series of false flags since last September, when it took on this identity. It reported Comoros, then Zimbabwe, and now Sierra Leone, all listed as false. The ship’s AIS signal shows that today (February 17), it is anchored off Port Said, Egypt, waiting for a Suez Canal transit, declaring it is heading to Singapore.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
While Range Vale appears to have dropped its claim to the Zimbabwe flag, Equasis lists another tanker, Ruby Cross (110,500 dwt), currently falsely claiming Zimbabwe. Built in 2007, it is listed as owned by a company registered in the Marshall Islands, while it has had its classification withdrawn by the China Classification Society. Previously, it also falsely claimed the flag of Comoros, according to Equasis. Its AIS signal reports that this tanker is anchored off China.
Zimbabwe’s alert to the IMO, dated February 11, came less than a week after Cameroon’s Ministry of Transport issued an official communique dated February 6 saying that it was suspending registrations for vessels intended to navigate outside Cameroonian waters until further notice. It says the action was pending reforms aimed at strengthening the legal framework governing registrations after it became aware of fraud.