White House weighs Treasury permission for US firms to use sanctioned tankers on lawful cargo

According to Reuters, as relayed by mezha.net, US companies would have to apply to Treasury before using the vessels ^[4]. A per-user permission gives Treasury a decision point on every use. We think that is how the option keeps some enforcement leverage while still adding ships. The account does not include a vessel list, the conditions for permits or a start date ^[12].

The White House expects extra tankers on legal routes to lift supply, including from the Persian Gulf, and to cut logistics costs ^[5]. The target is record freight rates ^[2]. For a permit to show up in those rates, the ships have to be usable. The account says some of the vessels are old and have technical and insurance problems ^[10]. It adds that insurance, port services and access to all international routes do not come automatically with a US permit ^[11]. British and European restrictions may keep hampering the vessels in ordinary shipping ^[10].

Those restrictions are heading the other way. The UK is calling for tighter limits on services that help Russian shadow-fleet vessels operate against sanctions ^[9]. London and Washington would be taking opposite positions on the same class of ships.

In our view Treasury's permit is one approval among several. Insurance, port services and British and European restrictions sit outside the permit ^[11][10]. That makes the freight case the weaker half of the plan, since it needs several parties to cooperate before a rate moves. We would revise that if the permit conditions, once published, deal with insurance and port access.