Singapore and Dubai port agents land on US Iran sanctions list
What happens to your ships on passage if your port agent gets listed?
Why the port agent is the one party a shadow fleet cannot hide, and what Treasury's 20 November licences mean for calls already under way.
The US sanctioned a Panama and Greece law firm that set up shell owners for ships carrying Iranian cargo. It also sanctioned two port agents in Singapore and Dubai. Shells can hide who owns a ship, but every port call needs a local agent on the papers. So the agent's check on each ship is where a listing becomes a refused call.
The US Treasury on 21 October sanctioned Karnakis and Karnakis, a law firm with offices in Panama City and Piraeus, Greece. Treasury says the firm set up the companies that owned ships carrying Iranian oil, petrochemicals and steel. The same action listed two port agents, Amigoz Singapore and Whales Shipping Line of Dubai. For anyone who has run an agency, those two listings matter most.
The law firm's work was paperwork. A Panamanian company, a nominee director and a registered office at the firm were enough to put a ship on a register with no visible owner behind it. That paperwork does not get a ship alongside. Every call needs a local agent. The agent sends the pre-arrival notice, the crew list and the cargo declaration, and collects the outward clearance. Its name is on each of those filings.
So the owner can stay hidden, but the agent has to show up. Amigoz's entry on the US list gives a street address in Singapore and a company registration number.
Treasury describes the agents doing ordinary agency work. The clearest case is ZIXUAN, a ship that was already on the sanctions list. It asked for service, and Amigoz supplied its bunkers. Any agency that runs its nominations against the US list would have stopped that request before quoting.
For an agency that already screens, the procedure stays the same. What has changed is the cost of a miss. Until now a missed hit could mean a lost call and a hard conversation with the bank. Now the agency itself can be listed. Its clean principals then have to find a new agent, some of them with ships already on passage.
The first real test comes with 20 November. The same action listed Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading, manager of seven Panama-flagged ships. A licence lets US persons deal with those ships until 12:01 a.m. US Eastern time that day, for safe docking and departure and for discharge of non-Iranian cargo loaded on or before 21 October. The licence gives examples of the services it covers, from crewing to piloting. Port agency is not on that list.
After 20 November the licence lapses. Watch the first port call any of the seven Roxette ships makes after that date, and whose name is on the papers as agent.
Primary sources
- officialIran-related Designations; Issuance of Iran-related and Russia-related General Licenses and Amended Frequently Asked Questions Office of Foreign Assets Control, 2026-10-21
- officialIran General License GG: Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Karnakis and Karnakis Office of Foreign Assets Control, 2026-10-21
- officialIran General License HH: Wind Down, Limited Safety and Environmental Transactions, and Offloading of Cargo Office of Foreign Assets Control, 2026-10-21
- officialPanamá depura y cancela 107 naves bajo listas de sanciones de su registro de buques Panama Maritime Authority, 2025-03-28
- officialMFA Press Statement: US sanctions on Mid Oil Asia Pte Ltd and Singa Tankers Pte Ltd Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2013-12-13
- officialOperation Economic Outcast Targets Iran's Shadow Fleet Networks US Department of the Treasury, 2026-10-21
