TankerTrackers.com
Stockholm-based OSINT firm tracking sanctioned oil shipments via satellite and AIS data.
Last refreshed: 1 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
How does a three-person Stockholm firm monitor more tankers than most navies?
Latest on TankerTrackers.com
- What is TankerTrackers.com?
- A Stockholm-based OSINT platform founded in 2018 that monitors sanctioned oil shipments by combining satellite imagery with vessel transponder data. It has indexed over 9,000 ships.
- Who founded TankerTrackers?
- Samir Madani, Lisa Ward, and Breki Tomasson co-founded TankerTrackers.com in Stockholm in 2018.
- How does TankerTrackers detect sanctions evasion?
- When tankers disable their AIS transponders, TankerTrackers uses daily commercial satellite passes to locate vessels and document ship-to-ship transfers, flag changes, and ownership obfuscation.
- What did TankerTrackers find during the Iran conflict?
- TankerTrackers documented 11.7 million barrels of Iranian oil transiting the Strait of Hormuz during the crisis, revealing the scale of shadow fleet operations under IRGC escort.Source: event
- Who uses TankerTrackers data?
- Insurers, commodity traders, governments, law enforcement agencies, and news organisations including Bloomberg, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR Marketplace.
Background
TankerTrackers.com documented the 11.7 million barrel Iranian oil transit figure during the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, providing the data that shaped international debate over the effectiveness of sanctions enforcement. The firm's satellite monitoring revealed the scale of shadow fleet operations continuing under IRGC escort while insured shipping withdrew.
Founded in Stockholm in 2018 by Samir Madani, Lisa Ward, and Breki Tomasson, TankerTrackers combines daily commercial satellite imagery with real-time Automatic Identification System transponder data. When vessels disable AIS to evade detection, satellite passes fill the gap. The firm has indexed over 9,000 ships including more than 3,300 large tankers, covering Russian, Iranian, Venezuelan, and Cuban sanctioned oil movements.
TankerTrackers has become one of the most widely cited open-source intelligence platforms for oil sanctions monitoring, with clients spanning insurers, commodity traders, governments, and law enforcement agencies. Its analysis appears regularly in Bloomberg, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR Marketplace.