France sentences captain of shadow fleet tanker in absentia

2 April 2026

A court in France has sentenced a Chinese national to one year imprisonment for failing to stop a vessel when ordered to do so. The vessel was the Boracay, which is included on the EU’s sanctions list (Regulation (EU) 833/2014) as a ‘shadow fleet’ vessel and was seized by France in October 2025. Shadow fleet vessels are vessels that are said to be used to circumvent EU sanctions on Russia. Chen Zhangje, the ship’s captain, was sentenced in absentia and French authorities have issued an arrest warrant for him.

Mark Handley’s European Sanctions Enforcement Blog has covered this story and has a tracker of all sanctioned vessels seized by the EU.