| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
|
| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
| [英文] [中文] [双语对照] [双语交替] [] |
| The Cathay Phoenix is not a lone rogue ship, but one of at least three tankers identified by The New York Times taking extraordinary steps to hide their true activity, a practice that helps them to elude U.S. government oversight and puts their American insurer at risk of violating recent sanctions on Russian crude oil. | “契丹凤凰”号(Cathay Phoenix)并非唯一一艘行踪诡异的油轮，《纽约时报》至少确认了三艘，这些船采取了非同寻常的措施将自己的真实行动隐蔽起来，以此来帮助它们逃避美国政府的监督，并使得为其承保的美国公司面临违反最近对俄罗斯原油实施制裁这一规定的风险。 |
| For years, ships wanting to hide their whereabouts have resorted to turning off the transponders all large vessels use to signal their location. But the tankers tracked by The Times go beyond this, using cutting-edge spoofing technology to make it appear they’re in one location when they’re really somewhere else. | 多年来，想隐蔽行踪的船都会关闭应答器，也就是所有大型船舶都会配备的发送位置信号的装置。但时报追查到的这几艘油轮用的方法不止于此，它们使用了尖端的定位欺骗技术，让自己看起来在一个地方，其实却是在别的地方。 |
| During at least 13 voyages, the three tankers pretended to be sailing west of Japan. In reality, they were at terminals in Russia and shipping oil to China. | 这三艘油轮在至少13次航行中曾假装在日本以西的水域航行。但实际上，它们正在俄罗斯的码头，将石油运往中国。 |
| The vessels are part of a so-called dark fleet, a loose term used to describe a hodgepodge array of ships that obscure their locations or identities to avoid oversight from governments and business partners. They have typically been involved in moving oil from Venezuela or Iran — two countries that have also been hit by international sanctions. The latest surge of dark fleet ships began after Russia invaded Ukraine and the West tried to limit Moscow’s oil revenue with sanctions. | 这些油轮是所谓“黑暗舰队”的一部分，这个词没有严格定义，指的是各式船舶模糊自己的位置或识别标识，躲避政府和商业伙伴的监督。它们通常参与的是从委内瑞拉或伊朗运送石油，这两个国家也受到了国际制裁的打击。“黑暗舰队”数量最近的激增出现在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰、西方试图通过制裁来限制莫斯科的石油收入之后。 |
| “The type of spoofing we are seeing is uncommon and sophisticated,” said David Tannenbaum, a former sanctions compliance officer at the U.S. Treasury, referring to the tankers identified by The Times. “It definitely looks like evasion on all parts.” | “我们正在看到的这类欺骗行为不同寻常，而且复杂巧妙，”曾在美国财政部担任制裁合规官员的戴维·坦南鲍姆说，他指的是时报确认的那些油轮。“从所有方面来看，这绝对是规避制裁的行为。” |
| To date, it’s been rare to prove the true location of a ship pretending to be somewhere else. But a Times analysis of publicly available shipping data, satellite imagery and social media footage helped clearly establish that the tankers were not where they claimed to be. | 到目前为止，很少有人能证明假装在其他地方的船只的真实位置。但时报对从公开得到的航运数据、卫星图像以及社交媒体上视频片段的分析都有助于清楚地确定这些油轮不在它们声称的位置。 |
| The ships most likely sell their Russian oil to China above a price limit set by the sanctions. Since neither country recognizes the sanctions, the tankers themselves are not in violation by spoofing or carrying the oil. | 这些油轮很可能是在以高于制裁规定的价格上限向中国出售俄罗斯石油。由于中俄都不接受这些制裁措施，这些油轮并不存在因定位欺骗或运载石油而违反规定。 |
| But the tankers still have motive to spoof: to maintain their insurance coverage, without which they cannot operate in most major ports. The only insurers financially able to cover tankers are mostly based in the West and bound by the sanctions. If a client ship were to carry Russian oil that’s sold above the price limit, the Western insurer would be in violation of the sanctions and must drop its coverage. | 但这些油轮仍有进行欺骗的动因：它们需要保险公司为它们承保，如果没有保险，它们就不能在大多数主要港口接受业务。唯一有经济能力为油轮承保的保险公司大多在西方，因此受制裁的约束。如果保险公司承保的油轮运送的是售价高于制裁上限的俄罗斯石油的话，西方保险公司会违反制裁规定，所以必须终止保单。 |
| “It’s significant when you look at dollar terms,” said Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which monitors global shipping, who first alerted The Times to several of the suspicious ships. “It’s around $1 billion worth of oil that is going under the radar while using Western insurance, and they’re using spoofing in order to preserve their Western insurance.” | “从所涉及的金额来看，这是个大问题，”萨米尔·马达尼说，他是跟踪全球航运的TankerTrackers.com的联合创始人，也是最早让时报注意到这几艘可疑油轮的人。“价值约10亿美元的石油用了西方的保险，却没有引起注意，它们为了继续得到西方的保单正在使用欺骗手段。” |
| In addition to the three tankers transporting oil, Times reporters tracked another three vessels spoofing while off the coast of Russia, though it’s unclear what cargo they carried. | 除了三艘运送石油的油轮外，时报记者还发现了另外三艘进行定位欺骗的船舶，它们的实际位置在俄罗斯海岸外，但不清楚它们装载的是什么货物。 |
| All six tankers are insured by a U.S.-based company, the American Club. The Times provided the company with the names of the tankers, as well as details about the voyages on which they spoofed. | 所有这六艘油轮均由美国保险公司——美国保赔协会承保。时报向该公司提供了这些油轮的称号，以及它们进行定位欺骗时的实际航程详细信息。 |
| In an emailed response, Daniel Tadros, the American Club’s chief operating officer, said he could not comment on any potential investigations because of legal and privacy requirements. “Insurance cover is automatically excluded in the event of sanctions’ violations,” he said. | 美国保赔协会的首席运营官丹尼尔·塔德罗斯在回复时报的电子邮件中写道，由于法律和隐私的要求，他不能对任何潜在的调查置评。“如果发生违反制裁的情况，保险将自动失效，”他说。 |
| The U.S. has also created so-called safe harbor provisions to protect insurers from liability if they inadvertently cover ships violating sanctions. As of May 30, a regularly updated list of American Club’s clients posted on its website showed the company is most likely still insuring the six tankers. | 为了保护保险公司，让其在无意中承保了违反制裁的船舶时免责，美国也制定了所谓的安全港条款。美国保赔协会网站上定期更新的客户名单显示，直到5月30日，公司很可能仍在为这六艘油轮承保。 |
| There has been at least one change since The Times approached the company with evidence of spoofing. The website had said the Cathay Phoenix’s current policy would expire in February 2024. But recently, the expiration date suddenly shifted much earlier to June 2023. The company would not comment on the reason for the change. | 自从时报向该公司提供了欺骗证据以来，其官网上的信息至少发生了一个变化。公司网站曾显示，为“契丹凤凰”号提供的保险将于2024年2月到期，但到期日最近突然提前到了2023年6月。美国保赔协会不愿对变更原因置评。 |
| The three tankers known to carry crude oil began their 13 journeys at the Russian port of Kozmino, even as they pretended to be off the coast of Japan. Satellite and social media imagery, along with customs data, shows that the tankers loaded cargo from a terminal used solely for crude oil from the Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean pipeline known as ESPO. They offloaded the oil in China. | 那三艘已知运送原油的油轮所进行的13次航行都始于俄罗斯的科济米诺港，尽管它们假装在日本海岸附近。卫星和社交媒体图像以及海关数据显示，这些油轮装货的码头是东西伯利亚—太平洋石油管道系统（简称ESPO）的原油专用码头。它们在中国卸下了这些原油。 |
| The sanctions began in December with crude oil, and eventually included other products like fuel oil. For crude specifically, there is a price cap of $60-per-barrel to limit Russia’s revenue from sales. | 对俄罗斯的制裁始于去年12月，最初只是原油，后来将燃料油等产品也包括进去。具体到原油制裁，每桶价格不得超过60美元，以限制俄罗斯从售油得到的收入。 |
| The price of specific shipments is not public, but ESPO’s average price has stayed well above the limit — about $73-per-barrel — according to a Times analysis of customs and export data. This suggests the tankers carried oil that sold above the price cap. That act alone may have put the American Club in breach of the sanctions, although the safe harbor rules make any penalty unlikely. | 这些油轮每次运送的原油售价并不公开，但据时报对海关和出口数据的分析，ESPO原油的平均售价约为每桶73美元，一直远高于价格上限。这表明，那些油轮运送的石油售价高于价格上限。仅这一行为就可能使美国保赔协会违反制裁，但安全港条款让这家保险公司不太可能受到处罚。 |
| While the total number of tankers violating the cap is unknown, U.S. officials insist that it remains effective. “The price cap is achieving its dual goals: restricting Russia’s oil revenues while keeping Russian oil flowing, and markets stable and well-supplied,” a U.S. Treasury spokesperson told The Times. Some analysts argue that the price data cited by the U.S. is flawed, and that the cap is not as effective as it may seem. | 虽然违反价格上限的油轮总数并不清楚，但美国官员坚称制裁措施在发挥作用。“价格上限正在实现其双重目的：在限制俄罗斯石油收入的同时，让俄罗斯石油继续进入市场，以保持市场稳定和充足的供应，”美国财政部发言人对时报说。一些分析人士认为，美国政府引用的价格数据有问题，价格上限并不像看上去那么有效。 |
| To carry out their deception, the tankers can use military-grade equipment, or software, that is now commercially available. This technology makes it possible to manipulate a vessel’s reported location, which is broadcast by an automatic identification system, or AIS. The signals communicate a ship’s identification, location and route over a radio frequency picked up by other vessels, ground stations and satellites. | 为了进行定位欺骗，油轮能使用目前可从市场上买到的军用级设备或软件。这种技术使得操纵船舶报告的位置成为可能，报告通过船上安装的自动识别系统（简称AIS）用特定的无线电频率广播，将船舶识别号、位置以及航线传达给其他船舶、地面站和卫星。 |
| For all the sophistication of the spoofing technology, there can be telltale signs for when it is being used, among them, odd geometric patterns in a ship's AIS data — like the course seemingly carved by the Cathay Phoenix off Japan. Experts believe this may at times be the software’s attempt to mimic a vessel at anchor. | 尽管定位欺骗技术非常复杂巧妙，但船舶使用它时会有迹可循，其中包括船舶的AIS数据中出现奇怪的几何图形，“契丹凤凰”号在日本以外海域的航线就是这样。专家们认为，这有时可能是定位欺骗软件企图模仿一艘抛锚停泊的船舶。 |
| The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has repeatedly warned American companies to watch AIS signals for evidence of deceptive behavior. In 2020, O.F.A.C. specifically advised insurers to research a vessel’s AIS history before providing coverage to avoid violating sanctions on various countries. | 美国财政部下属的外国资产控制办公室（简称OFAC）已多次提醒美国公司注意AIS信号，寻找欺骗行为的证据。2020年，OFAC曾特别建议保险公司在开出保单前，研究船舶的AIS信号史，以避免违反政府对几个国家的制裁。 |
| An even starker warning came in April, with an alert that spoofing around Kozmino, in particular, was most likely related to Russian sanctions evasion. It advised American companies, including insurers, to use “maritime intelligence services” to detect suspicious activity. | 一个更严厉的警告是今年4月发出的。OFAC警告说，科济米诺港周围的定位欺骗很可能与俄罗斯逃避制裁有关。该办公室建议，包括保险公司在内的美国公司用“海事情报服务”查找可疑活动。 |
| Maritime compliance experts say it can be difficult to detect spoofing among a large number of ships, but the specificity of O.F.A.C.’s alert narrows down where insurers should focus. “Now they have a reason to know this conduct occurs, and if they don’t act on it they run the risk of being out of compliance,” said Mr. Tannenbaum. | 海事合规专家称，在大量船舶中发现定位欺骗可能有困难，但OFAC的警告非常具体，缩小了保险公司应该关注的范围。“现在他们有理由知道这种行为发生了，如果他们不采取行动，会冒下不合规的风险，”坦南鲍姆说。 |
| Mr. Tadros, the American Club executive, would not specify the tools used by the company to try to identify spoofing, but said it relies on “a robust framework of systems and controls, including monitoring services.” | 美国保赔协会的高管塔德罗斯不愿透露公司试图鉴定欺骗行为时使用的具体工具，但他说，公司依靠“一个强大的系统和控制框架，包括跟踪服务”。 |
| The warning signs also exist on publicly available ship tracking websites, The Times found. A single journey by the Cathay Phoenix exemplifies several clear anomalies that reveal a tanker is spoofing. | 时报发现，警示信号也存在于船舶跟踪网站公开提供的数据中。“契丹凤凰”号的一次航行就体现出几个明显的异常现象，揭示了油轮正在进行定位欺骗。 |
| Beyond monitoring for AIS abnormalities, O.F.A.C. also advises insurers to investigate the corporate histories of vessels in high-risk areas for sanctions evasion. The agency warns that ship owners may try to avoid scrutiny by using “complex business structures, including those involving shell companies.” | 除了跟踪AIS异常外，OFAC还建议保险公司调查高风险地区船舶的公司历史，以发现逃避制裁的行为。该机构警告，船东可能试图通过使用“复杂的商业结构”来躲避审查，包括“涉及空壳公司的做法”。 |
| Mr. Tannenbaum said a good time for insurers to look for warning signs was during the creation or renewal of a tanker’s policy. | 坦南鲍姆说，保险公司寻找警示信号的好时机是为油轮出保单或续保期间。 |
| “These are all common, standard ‘know your customer’ practices that should be applied,” he said. “This is your opportunity to see if this is a bad apple ahead of time or not.” | “这些都是通常的、标准的做法，是‘了解客户’应该做的事情，”他说。“这是提前看看这是否是一个坏苹果的机会。” |
| According to the listings on the American Club’s website, policies for the six tankers were renewed in February, after three of them had already started spoofing while carrying Russian oil. | 据美国保赔协会网站上的信息，那六艘油轮的保单是今年二月份续的，此前，其中三艘油轮已经在运送俄罗斯石油时进行定位欺骗。 |
| Experts say the vessels exhibit characteristics that should raise questions. Most are owned by a shell company established less than three years ago — some only after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. These companies are Chinese-run, registered in Hong Kong and own just a single aging ship which was recently purchased. | 专家说，这些船舶表现出的特征应该引起人们的质疑。它们中的大多数由成立了不到三年前的空壳公司拥有，其中有几家是2022年2月俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后才成立的。这些公司由中国人经营，在香港注册，而且只拥有一艘前不久买来的旧船。 |
| “While none of these factors are inherently problematic on their own — and are quite commonplace — taken altogether, they paint a picture of a group of vessels and companies that warrants further investigation,” said Min Chao Choy, an analyst with C4ADS, a Washington-based nonprofit analyzing global security threats. She added that when factoring in that the tankers are also spoofing, they “fit a pattern commonly seen in maritime sanctions evasion activity.” | “虽然这些因素本身不一定有问题——而且相当普遍——但加在一起，它们描述的是一类值得进一步调查的船舶和公司，”华盛顿分析全球安全威胁的非营利组织C4ADS的分析师蔡玟昭（音）说。她还表示，如果考虑到这些油轮也在进行定位欺骗，它们“符合常见的逃避海上制裁的活动模式”。 |
| A Times reporter visited addresses listed for the tankers’ owners in Hong Kong, and found only secretarial services occupying the offices — a common hallmark of shell companies. Four of the owners did not respond to letters from The Times requesting an interview. | 时报记者访问了这些油轮的船东给出的香港地址，发现办公室里只有从事秘书工作的人——这是空壳公司的共同特征。其中四名船东没有回复时报发给他们的要求采访的信。 |
| A spokesperson for the owner of another tanker which visited Russia, the Ginza, told The Times by email that the ship was carrying a plant-based oil, and that the company was unaware the tanker’s AIS signal was spoofing. The spokesperson also said the company lacked the technical knowledge to identify spoofing behavior. | 另一艘到过俄罗斯的油轮“银座”号(Ginza)船东的发言人通过电子邮件告诉时报，该船运载的是植物油，公司不知道油轮的AIS信号有定位欺骗。该发言人还称，公司缺乏识别欺骗行为的技术知识。 |
| The spoofing tankers using American insurance show that the practice is not limited to Russian oil alone. The Times found that five of the tankers pretended to be elsewhere while visiting ports in Iran or Venezuela — or receiving oil from those countries through a ship-to-ship transfer at sea. At least two ships, the Cathay Phoenix and Eternal Peace, carried crude oil, a potential breach of sanctions. | 这些使用定位欺骗的油轮在美国投保表明，这种做法不只局限于俄罗斯石油。时报发现，那六艘油轮中有五艘在到访伊朗或委内瑞拉的港口时，或者通过海上的船对船转运从这些国家获得的石油时，假装在其他地方。至少有两艘（“契丹凤凰”号和“永和”号[Eternal Peace]）载有原油，可能违反了对伊朗或委内瑞拉的制裁。 |
| And the Ginza, too, faked its whereabouts last fall, pretending to be off the coast of Oman. The Times found its real location after discovering a crew member’s Instagram video: The tanker was near an Iranian port. Satellite imagery also showed it docked at a berth for loading petrochemical products. The owner’s spokesperson said the company was unaware of this behavior, too. | “银座”号还曾在去年秋天伪造过行踪，假装在阿曼海岸附近。时报从一名船员发在Instagram上的视频中发现了该船的真实位置：这艘油轮在伊朗港口附近。卫星图像也显示，它停靠在一个装载石化产品的泊位上。该船东的发言人说，公司对这一行为也不知情。 |
| The U.S. Treasury official told The Times that in the case of Russian crude, if a U.S. entity learns that it is providing cover to price-cap evaders, coverage must be dropped. | 美国财政部发言人对时报表示，就俄罗斯原油而言，如果一家美国实体得知它正在为规避价格上限的船舶承保的话，就必须取消保单。 |
| Earlier this year, the American Club removed at least 15 vessels owned by an India-based company from its website, according to a report by Lloyd’s List. The company, Gatik Ship Management, owns a fleet of 50 newly acquired tankers dedicated to the Russian oil trade, the report said. The American Club declined to explain its reasoning for the decision to The Times. | 据《劳合社日报》发布的一篇报道，今年早些时候，美国保赔协会的网站显示，公司不再为一家印度公司拥有的至少15艘船舶承保。报道称，这家名为加蒂克船舶管理公司拥有一支由50艘新购置的油轮组成的船队，专门从事俄罗斯石油贸易。美国保赔协会拒绝向时报解释做出这一决定的理由。 |
OK阅读网 版权所有(C)2017 | 联系我们