Tankers sailing under the flag of Cameroon will not be allowed to enter the UAE waters for security reasons, a media report said.

The country has just added the Cameroon flag to a restricted list and maritime firms and ship agents have been advised against catering to vessels registered in the African country, Bloomberg reported, quoting a Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure circular posted on the Port of Fujairah website.

The restricted list contains flag states whose ships cannot make a port of call into the UAE or enter its waters.

Since the West started imposing sanctions against Russia, the number of “dark” tankers transporting Russian oil has reportedly been rising. Some of these vessels allegedly sail under the Cameroon flag.

Last year, Cameroon vessels failed safety inspections at ports of call and were designated as very high risk, according to Bloomberg.

Most of the fleet registered under the Cameroon flag have also been to Russia in the past year. Of the 14 Cameroon-flagged oil vessels, 11 have been to Russia in the past 12 months, the news agency said.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Brinda Darasha)

(brinda.darasha@lseg.com)