Sanctioned Russian-Flagged Lady Mariia is Loitering off Port Said
The Russian-flagged Ro-Ro cargo ship Lady Mariia (IMO 9220641) passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on August 29, possibly in company with the Iranian cargo ship Shabdis (IMO 9349588). After a cargo-handling stop in Oran, she was attacked on September 6 as she was sailing eastwards, in the sea area between SW Crete and the Libyan coast. Like the attack carried out on the Omani-flagged dark fleet tanker Qendil (IMO 9310525) in December last year, the Lady Mariia was attacked by bomb-dropping hexacopter drones, which launched a total of 12 munitions.
Suspicions about who mounted these attacks focused on a Ukrainian intelligence unit supposedly based in Misrata, a semi-independent city-state in an area of Libya loosely controlled by the UN-recognized government based in Tripoli.
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The Volyniaka bomber drone (Ukrainian Ministry of Defence)
The Lady Mariia escaped serious damage in the attack, which does not appear to have been designed to sink the ship. She maintained her course to the Port Said anchorage, where she weighed anchor late on September 8. She has remained at anchor there for 35 days, just outside Egyptian territorial waters, with her AIS system broadcasting her position.
The Lady Mariia is well-known for shipping Russian military cargo and appears exclusively wet-leased from its legal owners, MG-Flot, for this purpose. MG-Flot was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in June 2021, the Lady Mariia was sanctioned in May 2022, cited for handling stolen Ukrainian material and for running arms to Syria. MG-Flot is also heavily involved in shipments of arms between Iran and Russia across the Caspian Sea.
The inactivity of the Lady Mariia, at anchor now for 35 days, is curious. A versatile vessel of this character, able to self-load and unload and with a ramped vehicle deck, could be chartered for about $15,000 per day, were it not sanctioned. The value of lost revenue is hence about half a million dollars so far. The ship must also pay dues for utilizing the Port Said Anchorage, at a rate past the initial gratis period of $2,155 per day. Taken together, the lost revenue to MG-Flot of parking their ship in the Port Said Anchorage is $514,650 per month, suggesting that there must be some purpose in the ship being where it is.
Lady Mariia's course through the Mediterranean (Google Earth/CJRC)
What that purpose is remains unclear. Since Russia’s Mediterranean Flotilla left its Base 720 in Tartus, retaining only its visiting status, the Russian Navy has struggled to maintain a presence in the Mediterranean, and indeed has not had a ship in the Mediterranean for weeks at a time. The St Andrews Flag is not currently flying in the Mediterranean. When present, the Mediterranean Flotilla would have had a naval intelligence collection remit, so in the absence of warships, potentially the Lady Mariia is fulfilling this role.
The Lady Mariia is not obviously equipped as an intelligence collector, and does not have an aerial array as would a specialist AGI naval collection vessel. But it may have hidden systems on board, and even without specialist collection capability, the Lady Mariia could still have a valuable role to play. Using visual observation, commercial radar, possibly drones, and by monitoring VHF Channel 16, as well as the Suez Canal Authority’s VHF Channel 68, the Lady Mariia can monitor movements through the Suez Canal – information of great interest both to Iran and the Houthis. It can also act as a radio beacon for direction-finding purposes. And it can do so with, in effect, sovereign immunity, being outside Egyptian territorial waters.
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The Lady Mariia is not alone. Just returning to the Baltic is another very similar vessel, the Lady D (IMO 9349289). Also sanctioned, an arms transporter and owned by MG-Flot, the Lady D left the Famagusta Anchorage off the unrecognized Turkish Cypriot Republic on September 26, after a three-month apparently purposeless stay. Save that this location is within five miles of a major intelligence target, 100nm from the lingering Russian presence at Tartus and Hmeimim in Syria, plus the conflicts in southern Lebanon and Gaza – all of which are of interest to CRINKY (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Houthi Yemen) nations and not just to Russia.
Top image of Lady Mariia in May 2025 by Wander (courtesy of VesselFinder)
