UK adds vessel IMO 9321304 to Russia sanctions regime, tightening service and port-access restrictions

On 12 November 2026, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) issued a Russia sanctions notice listing vessel IMO 9321304 as a specified ship. The notice records ALMA as an alias, names Trident Dexterity Ltd as the current owner/operator, and identifies Djibouti as the vessel’s current believed flag. It gives the designation date as 12 November 2026.

According to the FCDO notice, the UK has reasonable grounds to suspect that the vessel has been, is, or is likely to be involved in activity supporting or benefiting the Russian Government, specifically by carrying Russian-origin oil or oil products from Russia to a third country. This is the UK Government’s stated basis for designation; the consulted material does not provide underlying voyage documents, cargo records or a judicial finding, so those elements have not been independently verified by this desk.

The notice states that a specified ship must not be chartered or operated, may be denied UK port access, and may face directions concerning port entry, movement, detention or barring. It also says that, where trade sanctions apply, it is an offence to provide or procure technical assistance, crew, operating, chartering, brokering, financial services or funds in relation to the vessel. The UK’s Russia designations index was updated on 12 November and links to the notice, corroborating that the notice was issued and incorporated into the current public sanctions publication process.

**Why this matters:** For shipowners, charterers, managers, brokers, P&I interests, banks and cargo counterparties with a UK nexus, the immediate issue is not a general finding about all Russian oil trades; it is vessel-specific exposure. Screening should therefore account for the IMO number as well as the vessel’s current and former names, flag, ownership and operational counterparties. Parties should also consider whether proposed services could fall within the notice’s broad wording on chartering, operation, technical assistance, crew and financial support.

**Analysis/inference:** Because the cited restrictions extend beyond port entry to operational and commercial services, an apparently indirect connection—such as brokering, crewing, technical management, insurance-related support or financing—may require enhanced sanctions review where a UK jurisdictional link exists. This is an operational compliance observation, not legal advice. The public notice alone does not establish whether any particular non-UK transaction is prohibited, licensed, or otherwise permitted.

This briefing is not a clearance instruction or a legal determination. Contractual decisions should be assessed against the applicable sanctions jurisdiction, the parties’ status, the vessel’s current designation status and specialist legal advice.